Willkommen zur Begeisterung
by Krimzon Flygon
Summary: It was supposed to be a relaxing, well deserved vacation. But par for the Elfen Lied course, a trip on a luxury cruise liner quicky falls to chaos, and the residents of Maple Inn find themselves trapped in a dystopic underwater hell. Welcome to Rapture.
1. Beyond the Sea

Willkommen zur Begeisterung

a Joint Venture by

KrimzonFlygon and BlackNhite

(Author's Note: My first work based on the Elfen Lied series, and the Bioshock video game, as well as my first collaborative project with a fellow author. As an ardent fan of the anime, and a longtime lover of the Bioshock series, my only hope is that this story does them justice. And for those who wish to know, the title means "Welcome to Rapture".)

Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied or Bioshock.

Chapter 1

Beyond the Sea

For as long as I can remember, I have always thought the ocean beautiful. For this reason, I'd always looked forward to our visits to Kamakura, my chance to lay witness to the big blue, its never-ending expanse reaching out as if to conquer the horizon – I guess you could say it really brings out the poet in me.

This particular moment though was truly special and not simply because the setting sun captured the diamond twinkle of the waves just right. In this instant, no longer was I bound to my station, trapped upon some narrow strip of sand. I was right in the action, resting pleasantly upon this titanic vessel whose motions bounced and rolled with every ebb and flow. Surrounded by crashing waves and the heavy scent of open ocean, I felt embraced within my element.

Really, it was as though someone were holding me from behind… and attempting to fuse us together.

"Kouta!"

She had a truly happy tone, almost overbearingly so, the girl with her arms wrapped around me. I'd have smiled at that if said shrieks of joy were a bit further from my ear. As per usual, Nyu lacked any concept of personal space though how someone with such generous _assets_ could press her front so hard and still be smiling I'll never know. My hands were working to free my torso but she'd already managed to lace her fingers.

"Nyu! Bring him over!"

Oh geez, they're all conspiring against me! I'm hauled clear off the ground before I can react and with three long, giggle-tastic steps, I'm underwater. I snapped my eyes shut just as they started to burn. Ever since I was a kid I've been sensitive to chlorine. In my mind's eye I could see Yuka, having a nice little laugh at my expense. I wondered whether or not I should return the favor, and try to dunk _her_ for a change…

I swam toward the surface, finally deciding that discretion was the better part of valor. Yuka hits harder than any man and most motor vehicles, a fact of life that I somehow hadn't caught on to the first thousand bruises. Not this time, though: let it be known that Kouta Suzuki learns from his mistakes!

I looked skyward as my head broke the water, my face colliding with…something. Soft, pliable, globular, a set, each covered by a gaily colored patch of cloth; I was getting a literal feel of what these were. One thing I could tell straight away, if Yuka's shriek was anything to go by, it was something that was about to earn me my latest black eye. My cousin hauled me out of the water, one hand clenched around the collar of my tank top and the other cupping…well… guess that confirms my suspicions. Granted, leaning out over the side of the pool was perhaps not the smartest choice Yuka had ever made.

Not that I had the guts to tell her that now. Yuka was glancing over to the lifeguard, apparently trying to decide if caving my face in would be considered 'horseplay'. At length, she decided that I wasn't worth the risk and released me, scowling. I willed my heart to start again, barely daring to believe my luck.

"Hey, Kouta!"

I glanced over to the sound of Mayu's voice, inadvertently letting out an impressed chuckle. It was still difficult to fathom how someone like Mayu, with such a reserved personality, would have an affinity for the high dive of all things. Granted, she didn't look exactly detached up there: her hands were balled into tight fists, and her face was beet red, no doubt because of the crowd of children that chanted her name from below.

And then Nana stepped in, dressed in a dark-blue one-piece, identical to her brunette sibling/rival, and issuing a call of challenge… from the low dive. The little horned girl seemed to have a thing with heights. And popularity it seemed, being ignored by such "traitorous" (her words) fans easily robbed her of focus… and footing; she toppled into the pool with the grace of a wooden puppet, impacting against the water in a bizarre sideways belly flop.

I bit back laughter; Yuka threw her head back and howled outright.

"Go for it Mayu! Show 'em the Jack-knife!"

As I watched Mayu step off the diving board, falling into the pool with slightly more poise than Nana, it struck me just how much...how much we looked like a _family_ right now. A mawkish statement, perhaps, but not everyone's had the lives that we've had. A regular dysfunction junction, that's us…

I mean, where to even begin? I didn't know the exact details, but anyone who'd have parents like Mayu's, all too willing to give her up to a couple college kids… And then for the girl to be so eager, ready to turn away her own flesh and blood for complete strangers? That's crazy. _I'm_ crazy and I know that's crazy.

Nana, the sweet little horned girl that we had adopted… the one currently climbing back onto the low dive to give it another go. We're still in the dark about her and that's probably just as well. Some things… some things are better left behind, I know. Don't ask me how… I just do.

That doesn't mean I don't think about it though, that darkness, drifting in the corners of my mind. It's far too relevant to me – all of us… though I can't say I understand it.

'_I was born to put an end to human life…'_

The fact that someone could say something like that, and to say it with such complete and utter conviction was unnerving enough. But then the person who had said it...

I stole a glance over to Nyu, who had apparently grown bored with watching Mayu and Nana's underwater show and was waiting restlessly for the poolside bartender to finish concocting her third Shirley Temple. Less than three months ago, the stone steps… what was that then? She'd seemed so resigned, defeated, not at all like the cheerful, innocent Nyu. So who was that I'd been talking to that night? Some stranger in a friend's body… or a face I'd long forgotten? Someone… who had taken everything from me…

_Who are you, 'Nyu'? What are you? What terrible place did you come from? What other secrets are you hiding from me?_

I don't know when I ended up underwater, too deep in thought to really notice. Then I realized I couldn't breathe and it all sort of clicked together. I rose to the surface, spluttering. Yuka was doubled over, clutching her stomach as laughter wracked her body. Man, how long's it been since I'd seen a genuinely happy look on her face? I guess with all the insanity that we'd been dealing with since our return to Kamakura, one horrible thing after another, it'd been a while since we had something to really be happy about…

Maybe this was the first sign of things finally turning themselves around…

A sudden, bloodcurdling scream tore me from my musings. Yuka whirled around, stumbling backwards and nearly falling in herself. I struggled out of the pool, following Yuka's gaze to the origin of the sound.

I almost fainted. Nyu, tired of waiting for her drink to be finished, had tackled a passing woman. A true beauty at that: young, brunette, skin like porcelain, legs that went on forever, the body of a goddess. Perfect. The horned girl had dragged the woman to the pool deck and, as I watched in horror, proceeded to give the woman's bosom a thorough investigation.

Now, I will say Nyu's antics never fail to amuse. That didn't mean they never got out of hand, she'd already managed to acquaint herself with the security crew less than twenty minutes after we arrived. Now granted, we probably could have explained the idea of swimming to her better, and made sure to differentiate it from the idea of bathing...

Yuka had seen enough; this was a show she'd been privy to more than enough times, often with her on the receiving end. Charging forward through the crowd, she grabbed Nyu in a headlock and pulled her off of the mortified tourist. Instantly the woman was on her feet, looking as if she were on the verge of a stroke, screaming herself hoarse at her "attacker". I flinched, watching my cousin drag Nyu away from the scene. The look on her face would have been smug if it had been on anyone else; as it was, Nyu just looked mostly confused… and a little pleased with herself. I was pretty close to laughing.

I should have realized: some things never change.

*Bando*

Man's gotta eat. That's what I keep telling myself anyways, keep those blinders on. It'll be a cold day in Hell before I admit I've fallen, you can be sure of that.

What was I doing here? I suppose convenience was the first reason; they needed security, I needed money, simple math really. The fact that you're found floating out in the open sea, hanging for dear life to an overturned lifeboat does add an additional layer of endearment I suppose. Facilitates interviews too, how much more do you need to prove you're a hard-ass than surviving three days adrift?

My boss? Nice guy, not the type you can actually respect though. The more you get to know him, the more you realize what an idiot he is. No, that's not being entirely fair, more like he lacks the ability to quantify things. Take this cruise of his, some sort of publicity stunt where he invites a couple hundred people at random to an all-expenses paid vacation. It's supposed to advertise his new 'dream getaway' travel plan.

The problem? Too much, too fast, poor guy barely even knows how many people he's employed. He's on the boat now more as a personal learning experience than to keep up appearances, at least the man has sense enough to try to know his own business. Doubt it'll last though, jumping from fishing routes to hosting cruises is too big for a guy like that to handle.

No difference to me, Shinbo, the "nice guy", has a backup position for me with one of his old fishing crews, the business still up and going strong. I'd probably get on better there really, more comfortable around brash sailors and panicked shouting than snobby tourists. I'm only on this job because Shinbo asked, something about this whole trip is making him really nervous.

I asked him about that no more than an hour ago. He showed up to clear his head after some kind of… cat fight or whatever on the pool deck. The boys had been chatting it up with that over in our quarters; I'd elected to stay down in the Locker and away from whatever fraternity relapse that lot was experiencing. I'd been disassembling my weapon when those iconic blue suede shoes of his strode into view.

"Something up?"

"No," his voice cracked only once, but it was more than enough, "just taking a breather."

I fixed him with solid eyes. "What's the problem?"

"You don't know," he nodded towards the raucous down the hall, a small grin showing.

"Don't fuck with me, you've been edgy ever since you asked me on. Spill."

He fixed me with a penetrating stare; I could almost hear the cogs in his head grinding. One more push should do it…"You put me on security detail, boss. The only way I'll be able to do my job is if you tell me what's got you scared shitless."

Was that the right thing to say?

The boss averted his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out through his mouth with a mighty 'whoosh'.

"Alright, listen." Shinbo's voice shook ever so slightly. "I've been a seafaring man for twenty years. In that amount of time out here, you see a fair number of weirdoes, and you learn to deal with them. But this…this ship's crew…"

"You don't trust them?"

A curt nod. "There's something off about a couple of them. I look at some of them and…I don't know. There's just something about them that creeps me out…"

The defense rests. For all I know he's gone and hired a bunch of escaped serial killers. Brilliant. At least if things go south, I'll actually have something to do on this damned tub…

My face must have betrayed my eagerness: Shinbo was shaking his head, his hands raised in front of him. "L-look, I'm probably just paranoid. There's no real evidence that we have to worry about anyone on board, and doing anything hasty could cause more trouble than it's worth."

"So I should just keep an eye out, is that it?"

The boss nodded again. "Precisely; just report any suspicious activities to me."

"Sure…" I got to my feet, slipping my cleaned weapon into a holster in my vest. "Gotta go on my rounds, anyway…"

"I'll leave you to it, then."

* * *

Someone like me sees quite a variety of work in his lifetime. There are both good and bad aspects to this fact: one can end up fighting terrorists or a vicious, bulletproof monster, or they can end up on a cruise ship, wandering the halls like a zombie looking for absolutely nothing.

My definition of boredom has been officially redefined.

I mean, what was I even looking for? Shinbo hadn't exactly been specific with his suspicions. Likely, I was just about the only guy he didn't doubt. Course, I was the only guy he actually knew so…

The halls were jammed with tourists, all too eager with being here and there to worry about the disgruntled security guard trying to do his job. I'd probably do better snatching a lifeboat and trying to sail through them; this lot tossed and turned harder than any ocean waves.

This was gonna piss me off… but really, what's new about that?

Ready to just get it over with, I rammed my way through the crowd. My vision was a random mosh of surprised and annoyed glares.

Suddenly, something different rammed into me, brushing me aside and nearly sending me into a wall. A figure in shades, wearing the gold-trimmed white of the wheelhouse crew, elbowed their way past, going in the opposite direction that I was. I couldn't make out many details, fucker dove into the crowd too fast. Whoever he was, he was oddly determined to get to where ever.

I've often heard the phrase 'every dog knows his own', and in that split second, Shinbo's anxiety looked well founded. That posture, brashness, focus, they were all too familiar to me; I see 'em every time I look in the mirror. This was a mercenary, a mad-dog killer who trades blood for money. There was no mistaking it… so someone thought they could pull the wool over my eyes?

I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

*'Sunny'*

I've often heard people say that there's no such thing as perfection. Whenever this happens, it's all I can do not to shoot the smug loser in the face. What the hell do they know about perfection? After all, it's not a part of their job that is demanded of them 24/7, with their life alongside their paycheck as one of the benefits. Those lemmings don't know about perfection; they don't have my job, where their life and livelihood could collapse if a single piece falls out of place, their very existence hinging on what could be a single stroke of luck.

The guy I crashed into on my way to the crew's quarters, for example. Judging by the look he had given me, it was only by grace of some higher force that my cover wasn't completely blown then and there. Under any logical circumstances, such a slipup would've spelled the end of someone like me.

But I had gotten lucky, pure and simple, and I was safe in the crew's quarters now, resting my back against the wall and surveying my teammates. I was glad to see that most of them were taking this seriously: Douglas was hard at work cleaning the weapons, and Marcus was poring over a mighty map of the ship, marking off entrances, camera locations, anything that might come in handy during the operation. This kind of hard work was offset by some of our more…'laid back' members, though. Brent and Auburn, for example, who were hard at work bragging about the head count they were about to rack up, and all the expensive garbage they would buy with the spoils. Losers…it takes a special kind of idiot to see something like a hijacking mission as a simple, entertaining diversion.

Of course, compared to my purpose on this ship, it may as well be.

The natter of my teammates faded into the background as I recalled the phone call I had received not even three weeks ago. I remembered the confusion I felt as I listened to my potential objectives, and the absolute shock I felt as I heard EXACTLY how much I was being offered for it. The man on the other end of the phone, however, made it quite clear: complete the objectives assigned to me, and I'd be set for life.

I almost called bullshit at this point. This guy expected me to believe that some teenage brat was worth more cash than most governments saw in their lifetime? The man on the phone remained unshaken throughout this exchange, answering my questions with an almost inhuman measure of composition. My mark, according to him, was no ordinary child, and if things went downhill it was highly likely I'd be leaving the ship in a body bag.

Then, almost as if he could tell what I was about to say, he proceeded to explain to me exactly what my target was capable of. And suddenly, I realized why he was offering me so much money.

I listened to the stories, a cold mixture of horror and disbelief coursing through my veins, prying my upper and lower jaws apart. There was no way it could be true. Something like my target…something like that could never exist.

"Y…you can't be serious." I had hissed into the mouthpiece. "This is some kind of sick joke. There's no way that…"

"Are you really willing to risk it?" The man had interrupted. I could almost see the smirk on the bastard's face.

I had no answer. I remember floundering, scrounging desperately for a rebuttal. On one hand, the man was completely insane. He had to be, basically having me hunt down a super-villain I'd see in some crummy horror movie. On the other hand, I hadn't had a contract in ages: I wasn't actually swimming in cash as of the moment, and a mercenary doesn't make money asking questions.

Long story short, I caved, and now here I was, on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, feeling like a complete and total idiot. Still, in the remote chance that there actually WAS some sort of vicious, bloodthirsty monster on board, I could safely say that this would be the most fulfilling mission I'd ever done.

Yeah…just keep telling yourself that, Sunny…just keep telling yourself that…

I wasn't sure exactly what happened next: something struck the side of my head, catching me completely off guard and causing me to slide off of the wall. I took two teetering steps forward trying to regain my balance, my hand shooting up just in time to keep my sunglasses from slipping off my face. Brent's leering face came into my view a second later, the rancid stench of tobacco striking my nostrils with the force of a physical blow.

"Ya having a good dream there, Toots?" He chortled. "C'mon, lady, get yer head in the game!"

Marcus, our gaunt, perpetually-scowling leader, was starting the briefing, droning dully over us as he outlined the entrance routes each of us would take, the patrol patterns of guards that may prove troublesome, and…

"Sunny and Connors, you two are on hostage duty." Marcus folded up the map. He looked critically at each of us, his eyes panning across the room. "Alright, that should just about do it…operation starts at 11:45 tonight. Get some rest."


	2. Approaching Doom

Chapter 2

Approaching Doom

*Mayu*

Nyu's mind… let's just say it works in mysterious ways. I mean, it isn't like she's hard to get along with; I consider her a friend – I think she feels the same. She's always sweet, kind, innocent; just fun to be around really. Even if a lot of what she does tends to get… awkward.

Like what happened back at the pool earlier…

I never would have thought someone who could pass for a model could also swear like a sailor… or that Nyu had such a strong grip. It was all set for a poolside massacre until security stepped in and… escorted us out of there. Good thing Yuka was there to smooth things over by promising, really sweetly, to keep Nyu in line (though, when I think about it, maybe it had less to do with her speaking skills and more to do with her two-piece). We got off with a warning. I bet this'll just be another moment we can all laugh about someday… when we're not as on-edge about sea-borne ejection.

We basically were walking on egg shells for what was left of the day. Even Nyu, odd as it sounds, picked up on the tension; I don't think I've ever seen her this subdued… That had been hours ago.

Now, it was 11:30 at night. And, now, she was missing.

Yuka, who looked about ready to pitch over and collapse, was pounding on Kouta's cabin door. I stood with Nana close by. I couldn't stop the lump slowly growing in my throat – I was a little anxious… Kouta answered the door, already leaning heavily on the frame and looking the exact opposite of my nerve-racked self.

"Y-Yuka…," he slurred, "What are you doing up?"

Yuka got in really close to his face, really fast. I almost drew back from how sudden it was. She asked, swiftly, shortly, and with just a touch of heat, "Is Nyu in here?" She started trying to skirt her way around Kouta and into his room. Sometimes I think Yuka takes her "rivalry" with Nyu a little too seriously… but then I remember that one time in the bath…

Despite being put on the spot like that, Kouta's first response was a loud yawn. Trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, he groaned, "Not that I know of, no…"

Yuka calmed down, somewhat. She made no secret of her attraction towards Kouta, and I could tell that this revelation eased her mind just the tiniest bit. Of course, this meant Nyu was still missing. Kouta seemed to have figured that much out; he straightened up, not looking quite as tired. "W-Why? She's not with you?" he asked, voice laced with worry.

Yuka's face darkened. Kouta had a habit of snapping to attention whenever Nyu was concerned. It rubbed Yuka all the wrong ways, but she settled on simply shaking her head and sighing out, "N-Never mind…"

Kouta stepped out of his cabin, fully awake now. "S-She's missing?" He asked, looking very worried now. "Do you have any idea where she might've gone?"

Yuka turned and started down the hall. "I may have an idea. I'll check the outside of the ship, you check the interior."

Kouta nodded, not that Yuka's back took much notice. He caught a glimpse of Nana and me, off to the side, probably just realizing we were there at all.

"Worried about Nyu?"

I nodded, simply. Then Kouta… _chuckled_ a bit. "She's something else, isn't she? You can't take your eyes off of her for two minutes before she's in trouble again."

I blinked. "Aren't you worried about her?" I was a ball of nerves, how could Kouta… just keep his cool like that?

"Well, yeah, of course," he nodded, "But we're at sea, she can't have gone far." By now, he'd grown the tiniest of grins – in no way "happy," but… I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"I'm surprised you aren't more worried for her, Kouta."

Nana's voice took us both by surprise – she'd been so quiet throughout, I'd nearly forgotten she was there. Nana looked like she was barely able to stand straight, teetering back and forth, and her eyes were red with exhaustion. But there was just… something in her stare, something… vaguely familiar.

Kouta stared. "Nana?"

When she spoke, I felt an edge there, a sharpness. "Who knows what kind of trouble she could've gotten herself into in a place like this? If she had decided to play near the railings, she could've…"

Kouta shook his head, though I noticed his face pale ever so slightly. "I doubt it. I had a nice, long talk with her before we left, and I made her promise not to play near the edge of the boat. Nyu's not the kind of person who'd break a promise just to be defiant."

Nana looked him right in the eye. "Maybe, but this is a big boat. Who knows what sort of trouble she could get into? If she wanders into the wrong place, she could get hurt really badly."

I stared at Nana; it really wasn't like her to be so morbid about things. Not usually… Kouta was shifting uncomfortably now. "I'm…sure she's fine. She probably just got bored and wandered off to see if there's anyone up to play with… I should go," he turned away, "I promised Yuka I'd help look for her."

Nana stepped forward. "Can I come with you?"

Kouta shook his head, still faintly grinning, but anxious behind it. I could tell. "I'll be fine," he said, his best attempt at reassurance, "You two head back to bed; you look dead on your feet."

I watched him disappear around the corner. Then I turned to Nana; she had a bizarre look in her eye, as if she was debating something in her head.

"What… was that all about?" I asked, sounding small as ever, "You really… _really_ freaked Kouta out, Nana."

She didn't give any sign that she had heard me. I leaned into her line of sight, trying to catch her attention. "Why did you scare Kouta like that? I mean, sure, Nyu's kind of immature, but…"

I hit the wall I jumped back so fast. Nana was on me, eyes wide, barely restrained. It was so sudden, the exhaustion drained in an instant. Nothing… nothing but heat and venom remained – I hadn't seen this Nana in a long time. I'd wished so hard I never would again…

"I know that," she stated, remarkably calm, "It's not Nyu I'm worried about."

I was confused, I just stared then. It came to me, like the snap of a gunshot, exactly what she was talking about.

"You understand, then…" she drawled, slow and steady, "Why I want her found as soon as possible? I cannot allow anyone to get hurt because of… because of _her!_"

Hit my head against the wall again, wasn't expecting her to tear out at the end there. Nana was gearing up for a fight… a personal war between her and that… _other_ side of Nyu. It would end bad, no other way to say it.

"Nana," I ventured with utmost caution, "you told me that you can tell when Nyu's…not herself, can't you?"

Nana stared at me. "Yes. Why?"

"Well… can you sense her now?"

Nana blinked and said nothing for a good while. Then, "No…no, I can't."

I smiled and hoped it was reassuring. "So then, that means she's still Nyu, and everyone's safe. Right?"

Nana opened her mouth… left it open for a moment, and then shut it closed. "Yeah," she breathed. It looked like I'd defused her.

Still, I placed a hand on Nana's shoulder. "There, you see," I said, "Nyu just wandered off somewhere to play. Kouta and Yuka will find her and bring her back to the cabin and everything will be fine." I sounded a lot more confident than I felt.

Nana stared at the ground, apparently deep in thought. Finally, she looked back up, staring into my eyes.

"If she _does_ become Lucy…nothing you say will talk me out of it," she murmured. It was an absolute declaration.

That was as good as I was gonna get, I could tell. It would do for now. I gave Nana's shoulder a gentle tug, guiding her toward our cabin. "Come on," I pressed, "let's head back: you look like you're about to pass out."

* * *

Tired as I was, I got Nana back to the cabin. I wanted to send the tired girl to the bed, but she had other ideas. No sooner had we walked through the door that she shook free of me and staggered away, collapsing on the sofa. Nana can be stubborn; she wasn't going to rest until she was sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that _Nyu _was back, safe and sound. She never asked it of me, but I took the seat opposite. It felt like my eyelids were made of lead. I wasn't going anywhere though. Neither of us said a word, we'd already spoken enough, the slap of waves against the ship's hull a muted break in the silence.

Nana's expression was utterly blank, a single-minded focus that felt… wrong on her. Truth be told, it unnerved me.

I cleared my throat; Nana jumped and looked up with a small exclamation. She was so lost in thought; I guess I just didn't register.

"So…Nana," I asked, hoping to lighten the mood, "what…what do you think of this ship?"

Nana lit up like a fresh bulb, a wide, genuine smile on her face. "It's _amazing,_" she gushed, as if merely _thinking_ about the vessel was some sort of grand experience. "I never ONCE would have thought that something so wonderful could exist…!"

And off she went. It looked like she'd forgotten completely about all that trouble from earlier. This was my sister again, right back out on deck, having the time of her life. The rush was infectious.

"…and those…Sundaes, right? Where I could put stuff on the ice cream? I never realized that you could do that! Ice cream is good on its own, but then you add things like nuts, syrup, those little _Reesy_ candies…!"

Nana was practically blabbering at this point. She caught herself though, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. When she looked back at me, once more, her face was set. But now… more determined than intense. "This ship is wonderful," she declared, "so wonderful… and I can't let Lucy hurt any of the people on it." Her expression darkened. "I made a promise…I promised Papa that I would stop Lucy from hurting anyone."

That was it then, she'd mentioned her father and I knew that was the end of it. She had only mentioned the man once or twice, but it wasn't hard to recognize the sheer reverence she felt for him. If she'd sworn on her 'Papa', then nothing short of a meteor colliding with the planet was going to stop her.

"What's he like?" My mouth moved on its own, no time for thought. The words flew out, a final attempt to bide some time. I only hoped that Yuka would walk through the door, Nyu in tow, looking annoyed and relived all at once... but safe and together. I didn't really expect Nana to answer me; she seemed busy enough psyching herself up.

She surprised me.

A bitter look on her face, masked by a false smile, she began, "He was…so kind. Everyone else at the place I was born… they only called me names. Papa always got so angry, told them not to call me that."

She looked away. "Every time the people there hurt me, he always came in to make sure that I was all right. He…" Her voice began to crack. "He…held me when I cried…he always told me to be brave…that things would get better…that the time would come where I wouldn't get hurt anymore…"

She shattered.

Nana cried, racking herself with sobs. I watched her, her face buried in her arms. It made me feel terrible – Nana was my best friend, why did I have to hurt her like that? I didn't understand her reasons; I'd never known the… love of a father after all. Pain was universal though, that much I knew.

Nana took a deep, shuddering breath, wiping her eyes.

"After everything that Papa did for me, the very least I can do to repay him is to make good on my promise." She turned to face me, eyes puffy and red. Even so, they… glowed with dedication. "I want to make sure that wherever he is, he has a reason to be proud of me."

She pushed off of the sofa, rising to her feet. I leaned forward, my mind racing for an argument. Nana fixed me with a solid gaze.

"No." She shook her head. "I can't waste any more time. I need to find Lucy before any more bad things happen…"Then she headed for the door, weaving slightly.

"I'm coming with you."

Nana turned to face me, shaking her head. "No! It's way too dangerous for you to get mixed up in something like this!"

I squared my shoulders, trying to mirror her sense of absolution. "Nyu's my friend too, Nana: I want to look for her with you!"

Nana opened her mouth to retort, I cut her off, "You can tell if she's Lucy or not, right? If she becomes Lucy, you can tell me, and I'll run away. You don't have to worry about me, Nana. I'll stay safe."

That awkward silence descended over the cabin again. Nana was the very picture of unease: shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet, compulsively scratching at one of her horns. She didn't want to meet my eyes, a flat out refusal. But she came to the resolution: I knew how to be stubborn too.

She looked me, dead on. "You've seen what she's capable of." I had to strain to hear her, her voice was barely even a whisper. Nana reached up slowly and gripped her left forearm tightly in her hand.

My stomach gave a horrible lurch – I knew what was coming. "Oh no, Nana, there's no need to…"

I spoke too late. Nana tugged hard, there was a loud _click_, and her arm popped loose at the shoulder. I couldn't look away, disgusted yet hypnotized by the sight.

I'll never get used to her doing that.

Nana wasn't playing games though, a point she drove home when she thrust her aesthetic appendage towards me. "She did this to me, Mayu," Nana came in hard, "She did it without hesitating. She'll do the same to you, and worse, if she has the chance. Do you understand?"

I understood. It took a minute for that to reach my brain, all things and severed limbs considered, but I got the message. I nodded only once, probably looking dumb whilst doing it.

I guess you could call it relief, how I felt when Nana reattached her prosthetic. I was still a little dumbfounded by the whole thing. Nana spoke, "I want your word, Mayu: if I tell you to run away, I want you to run away and not look back. Do you promise?"

With a bit more presence of mind, I nodded in assurance. That looked to satisfy her, Nana turned to the door and gestured me to follow. "Stick close," she ordered, "and stay behind me…"

It sounded like something you'd hear in a bad action movie. I'm really not that sort of character at all…

Nana cracked open the door, glancing down the hallway. Stealth, for whatever reason, had become priority one. This was gonna put me on edge, no doubt about it. But I could push my nerves aside; for the moment; Nyu was out there and we had to find her.

I just hoped we found our carefree friend… and not that _other _person…

*Shinbo*

I staggered through the door to my personal cabin, every bone in my body screaming at me to get to the bed. Flopping down on the soft, merciful mattress, I let out an exhausted groan.

What the hell was I thinking?

You can't be a weakling if you want to work at sea, and you had to be even tougher if you wanted to run a fishing crew. As someone who had made his mark on the world doing both, braving treacherous waters for over twenty years, I considered myself a tough old cookie.

But in all those twenty years, nothing had ever exhausted me like this cruise liner scheme. I brought a hand up to the bridge of my nose, trying to massage away the din of the children who ran rampant around the ship, a sound that even now echoed in my head. Add the absolute pandemonium of the day's events to whatever quiet, subtle nagging doubts I still had about the trustworthiness of the crew I had hired in a moment of unseemly desperation, and I had myself a sleepless night.

That was the worst of it. Advil and a soft pillow would (hopefully) scrub away the worst of my migraine by morning. But it would do nothing to assuage the bad vibe I was inexplicably getting from my staff and with an entire Atlantic to cross before I could think about cycling any of them out, I was in for a rough ride if I couldn't shake off my paranoia.

If this kind of experience was anything like being the captain of a commercial fishing boat, I figured that I'd get used to it after a while. Cold comfort for now, though: I felt as if a construction crew was working overtime somewhere in my frontal lobe. Closing my eyes and leaning back deeper into my pillow, I tried to relax. Slowly but surely, the shouts of the children slipped from my mind, and I found myself falling into merciful sleep.

But no: a new sound had entered my perception, cutting through my drowsiness and snapping my eyes open. In my exhaustion, it took a few seconds to recognize the clacking of hard, shined dress shoes: judging by the sound of them, they were getting closer. With a groan, I struggled to push myself out of bed.

Time seemed to slow as the cabin door banged open. I vaguely recognized the two men who strode into the room: Brent Alberto and…Max Auburn, I think it was. I was almost upright in bed, my mouth open to ask them what they were doing here, when Brent reached into his vest, pulling from its depths something small, black, and shiny.

There was a strange, abrupt noise, somewhere between a "pop" and a "fwip", and a short flash of light from the thing in Brent's hand. I tried to scream; the sound lodged itself in my throat as something white-hot slammed into my chest, knocking me back onto the bed. The pain was unbelievable: it seemed to turn everything red. I could feel my mind fading, and taste something hot and metallic in my mouth. I tried to cry out, to scream for help. The only sound I made was a soft, pained gurgling; one that I knew would go unheard.

Oh please, Kami above…don't let it end like this…I have a wife…a family…please…don't do this to me!

My vision was dimming now. The sounds of the previous hours were returning, though: the children's joyous shouts were deafening, pounding in my ears. Vaguely, I managed to make out Brent: he had raised the small, silenced handgun again. In my mind's eye, I could see him smiling.

Then he pulled the trigger a second time, and the children were silent.

*Yuka*

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best with kids. It's probably my greatest falling as a woman – if not my only. They have a habit of stretching one to their last nerve; I have very short nerves. The only thing more aggravating than children are grown-ups who act like children. For example, the pink-capped terror in a sarong and bikini top. The same one I have locked in a choke hold and am currently dragging back to our cabin. The same one who had apparently decided that she wanted to go swimming at 11:00 at freaking night.

Life is sweet.

I think the most annoying aspect of the girl was just how hard it was to stay mad at her. After three, count 'em, three things that by any account should have gotten us thrown off the boat, one would think that one would be tempted to toss the little monster back in the sea where we found her. Although really, a spur of the moment groping between girls isn't THAT big of a deal. That lady was clearly out of her mind though, threatening to tear out Nyu's heart and eat it in front of her. My fist was still raw from the whole exchange and I must have been sporting the mother of all black eyes.

Life is bittersweet.

The end of the corridor opens up onto the side deck, just below the top deck and with a railing guarded view of the sea. It's not the most romantic spot in my opinion but clearly even mediocre theatrics count for something if the grunting I hear up ahead is any indication. Really, some people.

"Nyu," I pause at the corner, making to usher us back the way we came, "stay quiet and follow me back."

When will I learn? Of course, just like a little kid, this girl who's cup size rivals my own reclaims all her energy in one burst and shoots free of my grasp, dancing and chanting right onto the open hallway. Big sigh as now I'll have to chase after her. On the bright side though, seeing the looks on the intimate couple's faces might be worth the embarrassment… no, no it won't, wishful thinking fail.

"Ah, my apologies-"

And that's as far as I get when I notice the two men. No, this is nowhere near as steamy as I'd imagined though I can see it being just as awkward; even Nyu is still. Again, two men stand beside the railing dressed in the standard staff uniforms, white dress shirts, thin red vests, tan slacks, and black polished shoes. And flak jackets, the kind you see in idiotic shooter games. With grenades. And a pistol on each hip… that's four in total if you can't count.

But you wanna know the stinger? What really gave it away that this was the worst possible thing to claim the title of witness to? The rolled up bunch of sheets that shared its weight between the two men, rocking haphazardly between their grip and the railing that separated ship from sea. And at the bottom of this rolled up bundle was a single, blue-suede shoe; evidently its partner had been lost along the way which gave Nyu and I a generous view of the sock-clad foot it would have covered.

And the rolled bed sheets were still rocking…

"Run!"

I think I may have snatched Nyu clear off the ground and started flying I was so focused on getting out of there. Short flight, something really heavy and really hard intercepted my forehead just two steps after takeoff. Yuka One has been hit; we're going down, mayday, mayday…

Life is tart.


	3. Abyss

Chapter 3

Abyss

*Sunny*

And I must laugh.

Really, is this some sort of joke? When I'd first gone over the precise details of this operation in my head, the phrase "cake-walk" was probably the furthest from my mind. Where was the difficulty in this, on vacation in Tahiti?

Today was once again further proof that it is better to be lucky than smart, as if this crew of renegades wasn't proof enough of that merely by existing. Of course Brent and Auburn were gonna jump the gun and blow their cover. Of course they would take the messiest option possible and start splattering brains to bed sheets. And, of course, they further complicated things by getting caught dumping the poor sap's body.

Fortunately, our commander is just the right combination of paranoid and sneaky bastard to intervene when intervention was needed. And so, thanks to his exemplary character qualities and a few well-placed smacks to the skull from the "casual" end of his shotgun, we were still on schedule, still incognito, and, and here's the important part, we now had two more hostages.

And guess who gets to be the transporter.

So, now I'm last in a two man line heading for the wheelhouse, carving a path through the amber lit bowels of a maintenance tunnel. It fluctuates erratically between hot and cold, the chill of an exposed water main one minute and the hiss of super-heated steam the next. Connors, just ahead, gives a particularly nasty rebuttal to an out-of-sight pipe he'd managed to smack his fat forehead into; by the third minute into it, I think he stopped repeating himself and just made up things that sounded offensive.

With the q-ball fool ahead mostly occupied, I allow myself a final glance at my shapely charge. Between the pink hair and the pale complexion she was easy enough to recognize, even if the former was considerably shorter than the picture showed; the precariously placed pair of bowtie ribbons on her skull only made it more obvious. No fancy maneuvers, no sneaked narcotics, no spy gadgetry, my mark had quite literally been handed to me… on a bronze platter.

So now there was no excuse, no reason not to proceed. The former inhibitor of my actually having to put in effort towards a capture, covert and possibly quite dangerous at that, was no longer applicable. My job from here on was cake: retrieve sample, exit scene… and prove my loyalty. Cake…

And then I nearly tripped over the first step of the stairs at the end of the hallway.

"Oi Sunny, what chu' doin' down there? You need some gentlemanly assistance?"

What an asshat. This is the kind of person I call "comrade." Formerly I suppose.

"I'll get up on my own. Go check on the boss and get some rope while you're at it." Cheeky bastard gives the mockiest mock salute, rolls his shoulders (by extension the brunette lugged over his right), and steps out of view. There's my opening, thank God for nonchalance.

I draw my instrument free of its carrying case, pulling it free of the foam divot. Extra precaution is always welcome in such delicate operations. My unconscious charge, back propped against one wall and knees slapped against another, pitches forward. Skinny thing, I can make out the ridges of her spine…

A nerve sample would be quite valuable.

How fortunate you are to be in darkness right now. With enough luck… you'll never see the light again.

*Bando*

"So…what's your story gonna be?"

I couldn't help but smirk at the bitch's reaction. I had managed to approach her without her noticing me: she was too engrossed in whatever she had been doing. At the sound of my voice, she had actually jumped. I'm not shitting you; she literally jumped to her feet, scrambled over…whatever the hell she had been working on, and whirled to face me, a look of utter shock on her face. Priceless.

I sized up the woman, pulling my handgun free from its holster and leveling it at her forehead. There was no mistaking it: my instincts hadn't failed me. This was the same woman I had crashed into not six hours ago, the one in the hallway who had practically screamed 'I'm extremely suspicious'. And now here she was, armed to the teeth, with a briefcase full of wicked-looking medical supplies, in a section of the boat she had no reason whatsoever to be in.

There is a God…

I pulled back the hammer with a soft click, my smile widening. "I asked you a question, lady. Any particular reason a member of the wheelhouse crew is skulking around in the maintenance tunnels?"

The woman seemed to have gotten over her initial shock, and had squared her shoulders defiantly. "Walk away, comrade." She had raised her voice to make herself heard over a hissing steam pipe somewhere off in the distance. "This isn't something you can afford to concern yourself with."

I blinked. Did I…hear her right? Granted, this wasn't the first bitch who had ever mouthed off to me while I had a gun aimed at them, but those had been inhuman freaks. Here was an honest-to-god scrawny little human being who didn't seem to care that I was a trigger-pull away from blowing her head off.

Perhaps a hole in her shoulder would get my point across…

A second later I was airborne, as something hard and unyielding crashed into my face. My back hit the floor hard, knocking the wind out of me as the gun flew through the air and skittered away. I began to stagger to my feet, my hand reaching automatically toward my throbbing nose as my mind raced to piece together what the hell just happened. Did she just punch me? No…no way…she was like, four meters away just a second before…

And suddenly, she was right on top of me. She didn't even seem to walk into my line of view; one minute I had a good view of the ship's ceiling, and the next she was just fucking there! Her hand shot down and seized one of my vest straps, dragging me to my feet. I had a quick view of her other hand shooting down to meet me, connecting with the side of my jaw with a cracking noise that seemed to echo in my head. I sailed backwards and slammed into the hard metal floor again, the world spinning like a top around me.

What the hell's going on…? My thoughts seemed to come into existence from somewhere far away. Her speed…her strength's inhuman…!

My opponent was bearing down on me again, raising her foot for a stomp to the face. I had regained my bearings by this point, though, and I managed to grab her leg and twist, using her own momentum against her. The woman let out a short cry as she overbalanced and pitched toward the ground. I jumped to my feet, pulling my arm back for a finishing blow to the exposed back of her head. Game over, bitch…

I probably should have realized that it wouldn't be that easy: the woman's hands shot toward the ground, arresting her fall. I started to jump back, eager to stay out of her reach: despite her frail appearance, this lady hit like a freight train…

What happened next was a blur of movement and pain. The woman shoved off the ground, using the momentum to twist her body a full 180 degrees. I barely saw the kick she launched before it connected with my head, sending me crashing hard into the metal wall of the hallway: I actually felt a few pipes bend under me.

My knees quivered as I tried to steady myself. My vision swam as I managed to make out the woman dashing towards me: I barely remember raising my arms in a feeble attempt at self-defense, swinging clumsily at her: she ducked under my arm with a wide smirk on her face. The next moment, her hand shot forward, clamping like a vice around my neck and pinning me against the wall.

Mustering what little willpower I had left, I managed to focus, pulling my arm back and slamming my best haymaker full force into her smug face: I felt a surge of satisfaction as she let out a grunt, the punch snapping her head to the side. I heard a roar tear itself from my throat as I drove punch after punch into her face, hoping that I was somehow managing to hurt her…

But no: I may as well have been trying to punch down a tank. Whatever strength still remained in my body was derailed as I felt the woman's hand flex, and all at once, I was unable to breathe. I clawed blindly at her arm, my feet flailing desperately…fuck, this was embarrassing…My vision was rapidly going dark, my lungs were screaming for mercy, my thoughts running together into an incoherent mush. I was passing out…this wasn't good…I needed air…air…!

And all at once, the pressure was gone. I vaguely felt myself slump to the ground, heard myself gasping and sputtering, blood roaring in my ears. I began to struggle to my feet, forcing myself to regain my focus. What the hell…? I thought. No merc worth their salt just SPARES an opponent…

My vision was clearing up now, and I was able to make out the expression on my opponent's face. And the look she was wearing sent a chill of cold dread down my spine.

It was fear. Raw, naked fear. The woman was slowly backing away down the hallway, her face frozen in terror.

I'm no fool: it wasn't me that she was afraid of. Just a few seconds ago, she had been squeezing the life out of me, and my attempts to break free had had little effect. So what the hell was…?

And then I heard it: a sound, a soft cross between a groan and a sigh that was almost lost amidst the hisses and clanks of the machinery around us. Instinctively, my head snapped to the side, following the woman's gaze to the thing that she had been working on before I had shown up.

My heart nearly stopped: the tall, pale redhead that had been slumped on the ground had staggered to her feet, her hand rising to gingerly investigate a painful-looking lump near the front of her head. She slowly turned to face us, glaring at the two of us with a single, furious red eye.

_No way…no fucking way…_

I stole a glance over to my gun, lying on the ground about a meter away from me. Could I reach it in time? Probably…but a 9mm wasn't going to do squat against her…damn, I wasn't armed for this!

The arms locker…there might be something there with a bit more kick to it.

I scrambled to my feet, shoving 'Shades' out of the way as I dashed down the hallway, scooping up my pistol as I passed it. The lady didn't give me much notice: the horned freak had her full attention. That was fine with me: let those two tire each other out. I'm going to get myself a bigger gun.

Stay where you are, you horned bitch…I'll be right back.

*Lucy*

I can feel a presence; somewhat inside, somewhat outside. A part of me, yet somehow separate. It always starts like this – this tension. A "breath" follows, long and cool, and then… they are free.

She knows, this frightened lamb. I can't understand how, but it's written all over her face. She's alert, swift, a weapon drawn on me in the span of a heartbeat. It _barks_ – a sharp, violent sound that I've gotten all too used to. Five more follow in line with the first; all well-aimed, each quicker than the last. A good shooter… but a nervous one.

Most thought escapes me. It doesn't come to mind the fact that I've six bullets hovering barely a centimeter from my face. I lose the sound of them _clinking_, in symphony, against the floor. The ever-growing fear on this human's face, a mere few steps across the room from me, doesn't really register at all now. I can relax for a moment, detach myself, and allow things to reach their natural conclusion.

It didn't mean anything, but I couldn't keep the grin from splitting my face.

Oh, the ways I'd tear this one apart…

Liquid agony, it floods through me. So sudden; my body… every muscle, every nerve, everything, all at once, _screams_. The world goes pale, sheer white, and I fall to my knees. There's a static tingle dancing over the pain; through my skin, through the air… Sight comes back as I, wearily, focus on the woman.

Her hand, her right hand… something's wrong with it, just doesn't belong. Sparks leap across her fingers with a series of snaps; a physical energy permeates the space, a blue glow coursing through her veins– the scent of charred meat is heavy. I have to throw myself aside; more of a controlled collapse really. White-hot tendrils rip past, booming against whatever's off behind me.

The air smells strangely burnt… burnt air.

_Did I just dodge a lightning bolt?_

I'm about to do it again…

It just misses, striking the floor just between the hand prints. I end up on my back, flat and still. Cyan flashes overhead, just for an instant. My face is red – feels red, feels hot. Lift myself to a stand; has this body always been this inconvenient? Dizzy, but it passes quickly. Now I notice the space between us, me and my quarry – so much space.

She's out of my range.

I'm not out of hers.

The weathered metal twists and groans, fragile in my grasp – but not _really_ my grasp. The pipe gives way with a shriek, white plumes of scalding steam filling the room, engulfing the human. Snarling, she staggers backwards, vanishing behind the cloud. I turn, sprinting as fast as I could, ducking under pipes, hurtling toward the ladder as fast as my legs could carry me. Started climbing as soon as I grabbed it, hand over hand. Door at the top; slammed it open, dove through it, a vector slamming it behind me. I leaned up against the door, trying to slow my racing heart…

A hammer blow, crashing against the door, a shockwave up my spine; the force of it sent me sprawling. Hands shot toward the ground, arresting my fall.

"You little freak, OPEN THIS DOOR!" The human's voice, muffled by the door, thick with rage, followed by another blow that actually dented the thick metal. And then another one, deepening the dent and causing the frame to groan…

I spring to my feet, run to the door, ram all four of my vectors against it as hard as I can. There was the sound of churning metal, a split second of resistance, and then the door caved inward, tearing itself off the frame and colliding with the wall opposite: the woman was sandwiched in between metal and metal with a wet crunch. The door clanged its way down the narrow shaft before crashing to a stop at the bottom. I leaned against the doorway, tried to calm myself down…

My first order of business was to find Kouta. That…was absolute. I had to find him. I would make sure he was safe.

And then…I would kill every single mercenary on this ship.

* * *

My feet moved mechanically, the sting of the cold floor striking the bare sole with each step. I wasn't thinking about it…my mind was occupied, trying to piece together what had occurred between _then_ and _now_.

Fuzzy…couldn't get a good grasp on the memories…I could always only get scraps of what had transpired when 'other me' was in control of my body. Even before that…trying to remember clearly what had happened before made my head throb.

My head…my horns. Yes…I had lost them: one ripped away by a hail of gunfire, and the other claimed before that by that…monster in the wheelchair, the one that wore the body of a frail little girl. Everything had been…hazy after that.

But…there they were. I had moved a hand unconsciously to my head, feeling the soft cloth of ribbon in my hair, wrapped around hard protrusions of bone. So that means…time must have passed.

Memories were coming easier now, the same snippets that I could get when I was sleeping in my own body. I remembered…walking, a dog yapping in the distance…and then _his_ voice. I was back…I remembered returning to the place I had no right to be, and being welcomed with open arms.

And then…a letter opened, stunned gasps, shrieks of disbelieving joy. Rushing around, frantically packing suitcases, and then…

A boat. That's right, I'm on a boat.

It was a _very_ large boat, if I remember accurately…I never understood why sheer size like that appealed to humans…with such a large vessel, it would be hard to find him. I had already spent what seemed like hours wandering these labyrinthine, white lined halls…

I round yet another corner, and stop dead in my tracks.

_No…_

The gaping maw of an empty doorway, the metal frame twisted and bent by force, a splatter of blood and gore adorning the opposite wall…

I had gone completely in a circle.

My fist collided unconsciously with the wall, pain surging through it with the impact. I was right back where I started: it was bad enough that I had lost so much precious time wandering this maze. Kouta could have run into a mercenary by now…he could have…

I shook my head, trying to clear it: panicking had never once solved any of my problems. I needed to think rationally… try to.

I glanced toward the ceiling. Could I cut my way through it? Climb up floor by floor? It wouldn't be the first time I'd cut through metal…

"Oy, Sunny! What's takin' so long, Toots? And what in the hell was that god-awful sound?"

The mercenary's footsteps stomped into earshot, the human himself lurching around the corner a few seconds later. The man came into full view as I turned to face him: shortish, stocky, bald as an egg…had something lugged over his shoulder, a human bundle with long, tanned legs bound in rope and ending in a pair of fluffy, white slippers.

He was as fast as his partner, a handgun drawn on me before I could move. My body relaxed somewhat; he was going to try to kill me with a gun first…and then use those powers when he realized I was still standing.

I can learn from my mistakes – I wouldn't give him the chance to realize… I'd cut him down at once!

"N…Nyu…RUN!"

I froze, staring down at the hostage…at _her_…leaning out from around the man's back. Her face was a mask of fear, eyes pleading at me to flee. What did she care? As far as she was concerned, I was just one more girl in the way of her _precious_ cousin…I know that deep down some part of her would feel satisfied if I took a bullet to the head.

She couldn't… couldn't fool me.

The mercenary glowered down at his hostage, giving her a violent shake. "Shut yer trap!" He snarled. Yuka yelped at the impact, and then fell silent. Turning back, he glared at me down the barrel of his gun. "Awright, girlie, hands where I can see 'em, now!"

His words meant nothing. Prospects were chasing each other around in my mind, wild images forming. Here _she_ was…held hostage by a madman. My self-proclaimed rival, for all of her human arrogance, was terrified, helpless. A well-placed vector to the brain perhaps: sever a vital, vulnerable artery – a fast, painless death that I would tearfully blame on the mercenary…

No.

I couldn't. I ached to, oh how I ached, but Kouta sat before my mind's eye, screaming himself hoarse, tears cascading down his face. He knew that I could kill, that I _have_ killed… and more likely than not that I would kill again. Kouta would see right through my deception – I never was very good at telling lies.

The mercenary was shouting at me, barking down the seconds to his own demise. I stole another glance down at Yuka; she had that same look of desperate horror on her face, eyes pleading at me to heed the man's commands.

I couldn't kill her now…but I would show her the difference between us.

"I won't say it again! Put your hands on your head or I will blow a hole in it!"

I savored the confusion on the human's face as I gripped the ends of the bows lightly in my fingers. Then a soft tug, a rustle, and his jaw dropped open as the ribbons fluttered to the ground, giving him a full view of what lay beneath.

The mercenary reacted quickly: a single step forward and the gun barked in his hand. Yuka flinched in horror: I knew what she was thinking: she was picturing me pitching over, blood spurting from my chest or head, that "other one's" high-pitched yelp of pain. I relished her disbelief, the growing shock on her face, as she realized the round had come to a sudden stop inches from me.

The mercenary had taken a split second to ponder goings-on. Then he completely lost his head, firing at random, screaming obscenities in a high-pitched whine laced with natural terror.

He was backing away, much too slowly. He was less than a meter away now…

Too close.

*Yuka*

In the short time I had known Nyu, I had borne witness to many of the bright ideas that she had gotten into her empty little head. And for the most part, the worst that had ever occurred were varying degrees of embarrassment. But as I watched her from my decidedly uncomfortable position, slung over the shoulder of some foul-smelling gorilla of a man, her unambiguous mental retardation had become a great deal less endearing.

My struggles and shouts at Nyu to run had elicited a rather violent reaction from my captor: the sudden, forceful shake he had given felt like it could shift ribs. Trying to speak up would probably just make him angrier and I doubted that would end well for either me or Nyu. So for now I stared at her, trying to catch her eyes, trying to convey the fear that was rapidly tying my intestines into knots. I was hoping beyond hope that she would comply with the madman's order to surrender. Who knows: we might be able to walk away from this if she did.

But for now, no such luck. Nyu showed no signs that she had even heard the man and her refusal to meet his eyes wasn't helping matters. His furious shouts were making my ears ring, counting down the seconds she had to "get her ass in gear and put her hands on her head before he blew it off."

At this point, Nyu seemed to realize on some level that someone was threatening to kill her, or rather that he was there at all. She raised her head, looking the assailant square in the eye.

And there was something in her gaze that turned my blood to ice.

I had never, _never_ seen Nyu with that kind of expression, that…frigid, livid hatred. That was what it was: pure, undiluted hatred. It was wrong. There was something…_horribly_ wrong with this…

The clap of gunfire right next to my head reverberated through the air, echoing off the walls, echoing in my head. A surge of horror erupted in my stomach.

_He shot her…he shot Nyu._

No. Nonononono…This was supposed to be a vacation, a chance to relax… This was supposed to be a chance to escape Kamakura and all of its strange happenings! But it had followed us – the misfortune that I had caught glimpses of during my stay, the horrors that seemed inseparably connected to us had followed us out to sea. And now…and now _Nyu_ was…!

Alive.

I felt the mercenary stiffen, the arm wound around my legs keeping me balanced on his shoulder had become painfully tight. From my awkward positioning, I could see her…standing. Unharmed. Furious.

Walking toward us.

The mercenary's shrieks echoed off the walls, punctuated by the _pop-pop-pop_s of his handgun. I was squeezing my eyes shut, desperate to close it out, to wake up from what had to be a horrible, horrible nightmare…

And then I was falling. My captor's arm had gone slack at the same moment something hot and wet collided with the side of my body. I could feel myself pitching over, slipping sideways off his shoulder opening my eyes in time to see the metal floor rushing towards me.

My head struck first; trussed up as I was, I had no way to slow my fall and the impact sent a bolt of agony racing up my spine. The entire world was swaying as, for a moment, I fought not to pass out.

A split second later, something large and heavy came crashing down next to me.

I froze where I lay, my eyes zeroing in on the still form of the man, lying flat on his back. I could see a dark, viscous liquid begin to pool around him. My eyes roved across his body: a brick of a man, shortish, a muscular kind of stocky…

His bald head lay a short distance away, eyes locked in a gaze of wild terror.

I could feel my voice fail me, my throat going dry and coarse. I knew I was screaming but, to me, there was no sound. I could feel it though, feel as every ounce of thought, every little fear was drained out of me. When it was over, I didn't have a whole lot left to offer the situation.

My thoughts, or the fragments of remained of them were cut short by a hand that grabbed me roughly by the collar. . I was dragged to a seated position, then spun around roughly: Nyu was right in my face, wearing that same frown.

"Nyu…wha…" I was nervous, desperate for some kind of answer, "what the hell is going on! What did…what just happened to…?"

The snapping of the heavy ropes around my wrists brought my blabbering mess of a sentence to a stop. I glanced at the severed bonds dangling from my arms; Nyu had simply glanced down at them and they had…just fallen apart. I felt the pins-and-needles sensation of blood rushing back into my hands – it was only after the bonds were gone that I realized just how tight they were. Another loud snap and the ropes around my ankles were torn away, destroyed by that same mysterious force that had undone my wrists.

That had… undone that man?

"N…Nyu," I choked, "How… did you do that?"

Her hand tugged me upwards, hard. I was dragged to my feet far too fast; I teetered on my numb legs, caught myself on the wall before I fell over again.

"Where is Kouta?"

It took me a second to realize that it was Nyu I had just heard. I'd actually glanced up and looked around for someone else in the hallway. I felt rather stupid then – it was a simple enough sentence and Nyu's vocabulary had been improving over time.

The voice was an octave lower than what I was used to, though…

And then, _BAM_ – Nyu was in my face again, scowling, pushing me up against the wall. I was too stunned to struggle.

"Yuka, _tell me where Kouta is_."

"I-I don't know," I managed to choke out. "He's looking for you, somewhere on the ship! You wandered off and…"

Nyu spun away, releasing her (surprisingly strong) grip on my gown with an irritated snarl and storming down the hallway. I shook myself out of my daze.

It was at this point that it sunk in, far later than it should have, that something was seriously wrong with this picture… with Nyu. This wasn't the first time that Nyu had formed coherent sentences, and she had a definite, uncharacteristic melancholy about her at those points. But it wouldn't last, and she would invariably be back to her bubbly, loveably brain-dead self.

But this… no. This wasn't just "not-Nyu," this wasn't just a curt, miserable girl in front of me. This was something almost less than human…something primal that snarled and paced like a savage animal; something that hid an almost tangible, seething rage behind a hard, hateful frown.

And that… what _was_ that? I had felt something tug at the ropes around my ankles and wrists before they were torn apart – I had been twisting away at them until my wrists had gone raw. But Nyu had shown no signs of exertion; I could swear she didn't even _touch_ them, and yet they had just…come apart.

Come apart… almost like…

A wave of disgust shuddered through me as I remembered the man back on the floor, lying in a pool of his own blood, his head rolling away… _ughh…_

His head…his neck. Something had severed it, slashed through it with the edge and precision of a sword! And Nyu… Nyu hadn't batted an eye. Could it have been…?

No. Just… no. There's 'cheerful ditz's angry alternate personality', and then there's 'bad seinen manga superpowers.' The first one'd take some getting used to, but at least it's possible on a fundamental level! The idea that sweet, innocent, harmless little Nyu could have decapitated a man without even touching him… There's no point in even asking, really…

"Nyu?"

She didn't break stride, give me any indication that she knew I was even there.

"Nyu?"

Nothing.

"Nyu?"

"What?"

The venom in her voice could have killed a small mammal. I took a deep breath, trying to regain my nerve.

"What happened to that guy back there," I asked, my words surprisingly steady. "I mean, he just…"

"I killed him." Her voice was curt, almost offhand. She may as well have been talking about the weather.

Okay… so Nyu apparently didn't think the idea of killing a man from six feet away was such a big deal. Alright…

"You…heh…you killed him?" I asked, trying (and failing) to be as nonchalant as she was. "H-how? I mean, you-you _DECAPITATED_ him. What did you DO to…I mean HOW did…?"

I got no answer, nothing immediate. She looked like she was considering things, thinking it over. Her expression never changed, not even when I started to gasp for air – a crushing force wound about my windpipe. I couldn't feel the ground anymore and then I knew I was going to die. I could feel the digits, five of them clenched around my neck, digging in. My head felt crowded and light all at once, colors starting to fade away…

I fell to my knees again, retching something foul as I attempted to suck in vital gulps of oxygen. All the time I kept my sight on Nyu, still in that same position – watching me with neither thought nor empathy.

When she spoke it broke my sense of reason, "I can do things like that." Nyu's cold voice was spiked with just a hint of mirth. "Any other questions?"

Everything still felt like being in a cloud, a fat one that'd taken too kindly to a stockpile of Twinkies or some other stuffed pastry. I was connecting the dots in the background but it just wasn't getting through to the bachelor party in the control room. I stared at Nyu, at this…_thing_ that had come out of nowhere and taken the place of my harmless, saccharine friend. This _monster_. My brain was whirling, trying to piece it all together.

And then it clicked, all of it came together in a rush of horror: the head wound she had when we found her, the mental retardation, the random switches to some dark, angry versions of herself…my god…

This was her. The 'real' Nyu. That wound…whatever had made Nyu the child she was had healed. The damage to her brain had ebbed, and now Nyu was becoming herself again, becoming who she was before we had found her that day on the beach.

She was becoming someone with unnatural destructive powers, an utter indifference toward human life…and a violent, deep-seated hatred toward me.

"N…nyu…" I rasped as I staggered upright. "Nyu, _please_."

She smiled, finally; the corners of Nyu's mouth turned up in a small, joyless smirk. "Are you afraid of me?" There was unconcealed satisfaction in her voice. But then she frowned again, shook herself, turned and walked down the hallway. "No, no, no…I have to stay focused…" I heard her mutter. "Have to find him. Wasted too much time…maybe I can…"

KOUTA! I couldn't believe I had forgotten! The pirates, or terrorists, or whoever they were…they were probably all over the ship!

I hesitated for a second, then screwed up my courage and jogged after Nyu. My entire body was wound like a drum, my muscles so tensed they hurt. Any second I expected some searing pain, as whatever uncanny force Nyu commanded tore the life from my body…

But she hadn't killed me…not yet. She had choked me somehow, yes, hard enough for me to see stars. But that had been a warning shot, a confirmation of some pecking order. Even now she was utterly ignoring me, muttering to herself like a maniac. I could catch snippets of what she was saying.

"Have to get out of here..." She was mumbling. "Place is like a maze…maybe…maybe I can…if SHE'S here, I can…" She stopped dead for a second, seemed to concentrate deeply, and then broke into a full run. I followed her, trying to ignore the rock growing in my stomach. The girl was insane, clearly insane. But at least her ramblings hinted at some sort of plan. Who knows; she may very well have one.

If keeping my head down would get me out of this nightmare, that's good enough for me.

*Nana*

_No_.

It had started, as it always did, like a stream of ice water slithering up my spine. The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling; cold fear shuddered all through my body. I froze in my tracks, my heart pounding somewhere in my throat.

_She's here…she's so close…she's…SHE'S COMING TOWARDS US!_

Something solid hit my back, causing me to yelp. I spun around, swinging an arm blindly - it whizzed over Mayu's head as she ducked with a shriek. She was right back up a second later, a hand clutching her heart and a look of disbelief on her face.

"Nana, what is wrong with you? Don't just stop like that, you scared me!"

_Oh no…_

I grabbed Mayu's shoulders: she squeaked as I twisted hard, turning her away, then pushed her as hard as I could back the way we came. She stumbled, nearly fell over, started to turn back the moment she regained her balance.

"Mayu, she's here!" I shrieked. "_Run!_"

I half-expected Mayu to stand tall, insisting that she wouldn't abandon me…she was just that kind of person. Normally, I'd be proud to have a friend like that. But Mayu kept her word; she turned and bolted down the hallway, her feet clattering against the floor, rounding the corner and vanishing from sight.

And then her footsteps stopped.

I stared, a tight fist gripping my stomach as she backed up into view again… with Yuka's arms around her, smothering the girl in affection. I felt a brief pull at the corners of my mouth – an almost overwhelming sense of relief.

And then there _she_ was, rounding the corner right after Yuka, her gaze hard and steady.

Every muscle in my tiny body seemed to have locked up. For all of my bluster, my claims that I would be able to protect my friend had fallen apart. Even if I weren't out of range, my fear, her killer instinct that pounded in my own head had paralyzed me: I had forgotten just how terrifying she was…

But Mayu seemed beyond that, past the ability to be afraid. Or maybe she saw something I couldn't, something in the way Lucy carried herself – in the very fact that Yuka was in one piece. Mayu shook free of Yuka and stepped forward, _towards_ that… that monster! What was she doing!

"H-Hey there Nyu, we were worried about you." Lucy had watched her as she approached and her stare stayed locked on Mayu, not moving in the slightest. Mayu smiled, "I'm glad you're okay."

I knew my friend was doomed, that she was going to die. Unless I stepped in to fight, Mayu was going to die… She knew that – I _know_ she knew exactly how much danger she was in. So what was she doing there, just sitting in front of her executioner? It was the most frustrated… terrified I'd ever been in my life. But I couldn't move. I just couldn't move.

Yuka came up from behind, an arm on Mayu's back urging her forward. The three of them were suddenly standing together, joined by Yuka's warm embrace. She wore the most pleasant expression – it felt completely out of place. In the back of my head, I decided then and there that something was terribly wrong with her now. But I couldn't focus on that, not when my friends were so close to being torn apart by that _thing_!

But Lucy didn't do anything. She stood there and stared, unmoved by the hug. It was like she was dead, existing without any want. Lucy wasn't hurting them – wasn't killing them… It made no sense.

"It's fine… we're together again." Yuka's voice was off, plain and simple. There was too much comfort in it, strange as that feels to say. I tensed; the idea that the world was slowly going mad had found some merit in my thoughts.

All at once Lucy's stance shifted and her gaze shot further down the corridor to the left. She broke through Yuka and Mayu, shoving them to the side. There was a look on her face half-way between distraught and sudden realization. All the pressure I'd built in me, the readiness to act that I had failed to release when the time was upon me, came out the moment her head lifted: I shot forward, tripped over my own feet, and smashed into the floor.

My nose really hurt, but I got to my feet as quickly as I could. By then Yuka was in front of me, holding my face and turning it every which-way. Mayu was coming up behind her, a slight wobble in her step. Lucy had hurt her…

"Get off," my voice came out raspy and tired-sounding, "I have to stop her."

Despite myself, I needed Yuka's help to stand steady at first. When I noticed Lucy had left though, that I couldn't see her anymore, I forced myself to start walking. This body could handle it; I had to catch her now!

Yuka had me in her grasp, her hand wrapped around my arm; I never appreciate how strong she is. There was far more anger in my eyes than I'd meant to show when I turned to face her, but all I got in return was her concern. Then Yuka said, "Don't be scared, we're going to get out of this together."

My tense form loosened a little…

"You, me, Kouta, Mayu, and Nyu too."

It all came back in an instant, the anger. What was _wrong_ with everyone! Didn't they see that that wasn't Nyu? Couldn't they _feel_ it in her stare? It was so… so damn frustrating!

"Are you insane!" I couldn't believe my own tone, all the rage in it – all the fear. "She's not our friend! She's a monster, you hear me! Lucy's a murderer, an animal! If you knew what she could do…"

"I know…" Yuka's expression darkened as she said that. I didn't care, I wasn't ready to stop.

"Then why are you still defending her? Don't you know she hates you? Hates us? Lucy doesn't care about anyone or anything, all she can do is destroy – look at me, dammit!"

It didn't hurt. I knew it wasn't going to hurt. I only paused for a second after, and then only because the sound seemed so much louder than it should have – the _pop_ of the prosthetic arm. I threw it at Yuka's feet, my permanent reminder of Lucy's treachery. Why couldn't they _see_ it!

"Nana…"

"Shut up! Look at me! Look at what she did! You want to save that! What's the matter with you!"

Something in Yuka's eyes froze me right then. They were so intense all of a sudden, blaring in absolute fury… and focused entirely on me. It lasted all of an instant – then her head slammed into mine. There were lots of stars and the feeling that the world was made of yogurt. The fist that had been so tightly balled in the front of my shirt loosened and instead I found a warm grip upon my shoulder.

When I could focus again, the first thing I saw was her face. It was soft again, like it had been just a moment earlier. The welt on her forehead was all the evidence to her tiny bout of rage – she barely seemed to notice it. A thumb was stroking my cheek…

"Don't be scared," she repeated, "We're all going to get out of this together. All of us. It'll all be fine, just like it always is." I couldn't tell who she was trying harder to convince: us or herself. She was wrong, all wrong. I could feel it in the air around her, in the way she sat there and tried to stare notions of comfort into me. This wasn't Yuka, she was _wrong_.

"Nana," Mayu's voice piped up from my side. She stood by, my discarded limb in hand. I took it back without a word, I didn't have anything to spare. My head was really hurting. She kept on, "We should find the others."

I'd consent to that. Yuka was already up and guiding us away, hand-in-hand with that untouchable air of "fluff" around her.

She was wrong…

*Kouta*

At this point in my life, I've pretty much got it figured that someone 'up there' hates me. I know that everyone's said that at some time or another, just 'having one of those days.'

I may sound like I'm just whining, my entire life from about 8 years old and up has been 'one of those days'. My father and sister…murdered by a mysterious girl I had met. A year lost in the hospital. And then the girl had reappeared years later, bringing all this horror and confusion with her.

When I opened the gaily-colored letter with the tickets for this cruise inside, it felt as though my heart would burst with happiness. Finally, I thought, after everything that our little 'family' had gone through. Finally we would get a taste of good fortune, something that we could smile about, with no strings attached.

Why didn't I see this coming? My time in Kamakura had been rife with strange happenings, from horned girls to mercenaries hunting them, anything caught between them destroyed in an instant. What made me think I could escape these things by going out to sea?

I registered the barrel of the man's handgun pressing against the back of my head for a second, and then a hand slammed into the small of my back. The shock of the blow sent me to my knees, not a hint of resistance.

"Get up!" The man gripped the back of my collar and dragged me to my feet, almost garroting me in the process. He had come out of nowhere while I was wandering the halls and the next second I was his hostage, being dragged off at gunpoint to god-knows-where.

Swells of fear churned in my stomach like the waves against the hull of the boat. Yuka…Nyu…I couldn't even be sure that Mayu and Nana were safe. It was cold comfort that he hadn't put a bullet in my head on the spot; if whoever had commandeered the boat were taking hostages, I may just see them safe again…

_SPLAT! Thump!_

Those sounds…the churning of flesh and the heavy thump that followed were noises that had haunted my nightmares for eight long years…and now, from right behind me…

No…don't turn around, Kouta…it won't have happened if you don't turn around…

Something on my shoulder – a hand, a tender, loving caress. I shrieked like a banshee, swatting the hand away and whirling around.

And there she was. Just as she had been before she had vanished into the night not three months ago. This…being that wore Nyu's face stared up at me, eyes shadowed by her bangs. Blood coated her front like a gristly Rorschach blot. _His_ blood… My willpower gave out completely, and I stole a split second glance down at my former captor.

I had to fight the bile that rose to my throat. The man had been bifurcated, torn completely and savagely in two, his face twisted in a mask of pain. The girl hadn't executed him like I had seen her do to others before: this was pure, bestial savagery.

And yet I never would have realized it just looking at her face. It wasn't some bloodthirsty, rage-filled glare she wore. She had a look of utter serenity.

Nyu stepped forward, concern on her face, reaching out to me. "Kouta…" she whispered.

I reacted, flinching out of her reach. That shook her; she drew her hand back, looking absolutely wounded. She saves my life, I recoil from her. It wasn't right of me, but I couldn't deny how scared I was.

"Nyu…" I began, casting my mind around, struggling for words. "You…"

She looked up at me curiously, mumbling a soft, "Hm?"

Good god…it didn't even _register_ with her. The man on the floor was little more than a fly on the wall to her; just an irritating insect to be swatted. He'd had me at gunpoint, but she hadn't even considered him – his humanity – for an instant. "Kill" was her go-to solution.

"Y…you killed him," I managed to choke.

The change in her expression sent a jolt of shock through me: her face had darkened like a thundercloud the moment I said it. She glared down at the corpse, giving it a look of utter loathing. "He tried to kill _you_," she stated simply.

Ignoring the fact that I was very likely hurtling toward a huge mistake, I continued to babble. "But that's not the point! I told you before; I don't want you just going around slaughtering people! You could have disabled him somehow, broken his hand or something, or knocked him unconscious…"

The glare she shot me could have stopped a charging rhino. It didn't reach her voice, the obvious rage in her. She spoke with the same, dead tone she'd used the whole while, "I saved your life."

Thankfully, I was smart enough to shut up at this point. I managed a small nod. "Y-yeah…sure…thanks."

Nyu seemed satisfied at my feeble acknowledgement, at least as far as I could read. She turned away and gestured for me to follow: a withering look over one shoulder and a minute's pause in pace.

What else could I do? It was all happening again: all the nightmares from Kamakura had followed us onto the cruise ship, and it didn't take a genius to realize that my makeshift family and I were in grave danger. Nyu herself… she knew what she was doing. Madness and murder, this had been her existence all her life, hadn't it? She was on my side for the moment, that's one thing to think about.

Silver linings, I guess.

I took a deep breath, a final attempt to calm my racing heart, and strode after the retreating girl.

No sooner had we reached the corner of the hallway than she whirled around, swinging an arm and knocking me backwards. I gave a shout of surprise as I barely managed to catch my balance: Nyu herself dove back around the corner, turning away and covering her head.

'_Clink clink…POP!'_

A deafening noise, a blinding light_…_I groaned in pain, staggering backwards as my ears rang like a bell and my eyes burned, forcing me to shut them.

_A flashbang?!_

My vision calmed itself relatively quickly: in my effort to keep myself from falling over, I had avoided catching the full view of the detonating grenade. Although I had been temporarily deafened, I could make out Nyu backing away from some other figure that had appeared in the midst of the chaos: a tall, well-built figure holding what looked to be some sort of assault rifle. Wait…I think I knew this man!

Nyu's body tensed and the man jumped back around the corner. A second later the wall exploded in a shower of wood chips and drywall, right behind where he had been standing not even two seconds before.

As soon as the man was out of sight, Nyu had whirled around, sprinting back towards me and seizing my hand.

"RUN!"

I took off alongside her, tearing down the hallway as fast as my legs could carry me. The end of the hallway seemed a thousand miles away…

"HOLD YOUR BREATH, YOU HORNED BITCH!"

My mind barely registered the shout of the man behind us: something exploded overhead, covering us both with what seemed like pure-white steam. The instant I saw it, the instant I took a breath, I crumpled to the ground. My eyes were burning like fire again, tears running in rivers down my face. I couldn't see. I couldn't _breathe_…I was coughing and hacking like a chain-smoker as my lungs screamed for mercy…

_Tear gas…!_

"Nyu…h-help me…!"

Nyu hadn't let go of my hand. I felt her tug me to my feet, dragging me out of the burning cloud. Gunfire…something hot whizzing by my face, missing it by inches…

And then fresh air…we were out of the fumes. I was gasping for breath, gulping down beautiful oxygen in spite of my burned throat.

Nyu shook my shoulder. "Stay with me."

I tried to wipe away the tears that streamed down my face; it only served to irritate my eyes more. I forced myself to smile in the general direction that her voice had come from.

"Y-yeah…" I managed to wheeze, before erupting in a fit of coughing.

More gunfire and the sounds of shots ricocheting off of something hard. I heard the man cursing – a familiar voice – screaming expletives at the top of his lungs.

"You damned freak! Turn around and fight me!"

Something loud came crashing down from the ceiling, and I heard the man scream in rage. Squinting, I managed to make out a matted shape; vines that snapped and sparked angrily with flashes of light.

"He won't be following through that," Nyu mused to herself, giving me another shake. "Kouta, can you see?"

"Kind of." I shook myself. Now that I had been out of the gas for a while, my vision had cleared up some. I could make out Nyu nodding.

"Come on." She said, tugging at my arm, "We need to leave."

I gave one last glance at the furious man behind the cage of live wires. Then Nyu pulled me around the corner, and he was gone.

* * *

"Is this the right way?"

Nyu didn't answer…didn't do much for the sinking feeling I was starting to get. She had simply pressed forward, glancing carefully around each corner. We had wandered out of the guest hallway a while back. Now we were in some sort of gambling hall: passengers were seated at slot machines and roulette tables stretched end to end.

It was surreal; although I remembered that any gunfire that had occurred had been suppressed, and the sound would be unlikely to travel this far anyway, it was odd to see the looks that the people were giving us. Some gave us strange glances, others drew back from the bloodied girl in their midst. Others didn't even bother to look up from the roulettes. It was just as it was in Kamakura: business as usual on this vessel, and only a few 'lucky' people could see the hell that boiled underneath, the hell that WE had likely brought with us.

Nyu had slowed to a walk, her breaths growing slow and steady. She was calming, probably expecting me to do the same. I did the best I could as Nyu absently relayed, "The others are close… I feel that girl nearby."

My eyes swept the whole of the room as quickly and thoroughly – already a confusing thought – as they could. I knew that Nana could "sense" whenever Nyu changed into this other person, why wouldn't it work the other way around? If Nana was close, then Mayu couldn't be far behind. Yuka too; if we could regroup…

People were staring; the presence of a blood-spotted horned-girl in a bikini was the sort of thing that demanded attention even from the most ignorant of crowds. The nervousness in the back of my head was quickly charging to the front, I could feel sweat forming on my brow.

Nyu was still staring emptily into the ceiling, I imagined in some effort to pinpoint the rest of our family. She didn't spare words, but I did notice the way she drifted closer to my side. A subconscious show of comfort, telling me _"We're fine. We're going to make it."_

The doors opposite the hall we entered from were heavy monsters of craftsmanship, no doubt too much weight for any child to handle. I'd tried them that morning whilst touring the ship, I'd almost walked off thinking they'd been barred from the other side. When they blew open that moment, I got my first true appreciation of how powerful real life explosives really are. My second, not so "appreciative" lesson came from how forcefully that length of shredded wood ripped the arm clear from the socket of one of the passengers.

Men in flak jackets stormed into the room, firing furiously into the ceiling. People dove under tables and over chairs – some straight out ran through anything that stood between them and the nearest exit. They didn't make it.

"Get on the ground!"

I hadn't noticed the man marching on us, rifle drawn and face set. We were the only unarmed people in the room still standing and that made us "cowboys" as far as the gunmen were concerned. The term "nightmare" would have fat much better.

Nyu looked at that man, just kind of cocked her head in his general direction. His rifle, once resting in comfort against his shoulder, had made a new home for itself buried mag-deep in his torso. He didn't even have a chance to grunt before blood filled his maw and his corpse was falling.

Someone grabbed me – I could feel the knuckles against the back of my neck – and I was sent sailing through the air. Roars of gunfire ripped through the air around me a heartbeat before I struck the end of a table, rolling over the side. Nyu swung in beside me a second later, several shots racing in her wake.

"What now!" I don't know what I was expecting, asking such an important question of someone clearly beyond the realm of rational thinking. But I didn't have anything and all the screaming from the remaining passengers wasn't doing much to improve any planning effort on my part.

The lights cut out. Everything paused for an instant… then people were running. The mercenaries were _running_! Each of them was shouting at the same time, obvious terror in their voices. I couldn't see the hand in front of my face; the departure of our would-be executioners somehow wasn't able to alleviate my dread.

Nyu wrapped her arms around me – all of them – with a fierce amount of force. Her lips spoke close to my ear, "Brace yourself…"

I wasn't ready at all for what was coming next.

*Mayu*

The night air felt nice. As we made our way out onto the deck, that was my biggest thought. The second…

"Cover me, you little whore! I didn't come with you to end up shot, not when I've got a fucking walking shield on my side!"

"Stop calling me that! And this isn't as easy as it looks; those things are a lot heavier than I'm used to!"

…was that I actually may feel sorry for those men trying to kill us. Just having Nana probably would have been enough to get us to a safe place to hide. But once we met up with Mr. Bando and his assault rifle… well, it just wasn't fair at that point.

Mr. Bando was out in front of the box Yuka and I were perched behind, almost completely out in the open. The only thing between him and the lead storm was Nana, her form crouched low to the ground. The sound of gunfire belted out from across the deck in a never-ending stream. Sparks struck the air above and before us, a hundred little fireworks, over and over again. Nana flinched at every flash, but only just.

'_She can feel them,'_ I reminded myself, thinking back to a conversation we once had. Nana had tried to explain to me what it was like to have…"arms" was the word she used, ironically enough. She could stop bullets and throw cars, but every act was like a spike of stress to the mind. She'd mentioned how much heavier the rounds were from what she was used to and they came at us non-stop. Nana hadn't stood up once since the fight began – she might have toppled over if she tried. The view in her head probably wasn't much different to the one in reality: a hundred little fireworks, over and over again…

Her well-being was the furthest thing from Mr. Bando's mind. It wasn't that he was cruel – though I knew he could be if you caught him in the wrong mood or said the wrong thing – but I think he was having too much of a time right then to bother. Mr. Bando took pot shots at anything that had the nerve to stick out of cover; twice blowing the trigger finger clear off a man if the things they screamed were any clue. Whenever he wasn't shooting – and half the time he was – Mr. Bando was shouting death threats and action-movie one-liners. If it weren't for how close the snap of gunfire was to my huddled self, I might have found some humor in all this.

"_Fuck_...break left!"

Mr. Bando's yell marked a sudden halt in the fighting. All guns run out of bullets eventually. I had a decent view and my heart nearly leapt from my chest when the two in front separated, charging in opposite directions. A man across the deck rose up, rifle shouldered and aimed at Mr. Bando. A bottle of amber liquid smacked into the side of his head and sent him flailing out of sight.

The other men, freshly loaded, turned towards the nearby poolside bar and directed their attention on Nana, who fired a second bottle of alcohol at the throat of another shooter: down he went, gagging. The air erupted once again and Nana threw herself to the ground, prosthetics crossed in front of her – the image helped her mind I guessed.

But Mr. Bando had gone unchecked. That was a mistake. There were three bad guys hiding behind the long table across the deck from us. Mr. Bando mowed them down, apparently having found one of their discarded weapons. I watched him walk straight up to the table, staring down, before launching a final shot into a thug.

The night calm again, we regrouped.

Mr. Bando motioned Nana for a high five, "Nice work there, munchkin." It was as standard a compliment as I'd ever heard from him.

Nana didn't take the invitation to slap hands – though that may have been more from lack of understanding than any attitudes towards Mr. Bando. "It was a good thing we took the time to practice on the beach so long ago. I almost thought you'd left me at the end there."

"Yeah well, I may have let the thought flutter around for a bit…"

"That's so mean!"

The way they were acting, so familiar with each other, for a brief second… I think I felt a little jealous.

"Waste of good booze, though...shit! Get down!"

I felt myself thrown to the floor, hard enough to chip teeth if I hadn't thought to land on my palms. Yuka's weight fell over me as the familiar _brakka-brakka_ of assault rifles again ripped through the night. We were out in the open, would have been torn to shreds if the attack had come anywhere but the lowered, middle deck. The edge of our raised position was just enough to block the shots.

Mr. Bando stretched his gun-arm up high and fired blindly into the lower area, a few rounds audibly hitting the water of the pool. When his magazine ran dry he did little more than curse and join the rest of us in hunkering down. I could see Nana, her face specifically. She had a look of action, she was ready to do something.

But the fighting was drawing away from us. I could hear the gunmen below shouting desperately.

"What are you doing, you idiots! Fuck these people; we need to get outta here!"

"What the hell is that dumbass thinking! Can anybody get into the wheel house?"

"Guy's out of his mind! Says there's DEMONS on this boat!"

"Forget him and his crazy act, this whole place is about to go to hell!"

"Did you see the look on his face, man!"

"Motherfucker armed the bomb! Louis armed the bomb!"

"Thirty seconds!"

"Shit, run!"

I was lifted. I was dragged, pulled, and then outright picked off the ground, my vision blurred with motion and rocky movement. It didn't really catch up to me until I was tossed overboard with a shriek, Yuka and Nana all but toppling over the rail of the ship shortly after. A clank, a whirring noise, and then we're falling, hitting the water with splash. I heard an engine revving, Yuka cursing…all at once everything got really loud. And then there was silence.


	4. Welcome to Rapture

Chapter 4

Welcome to Rapture

*Yuka*

Well, what was I supposed to do?

I was no medical student. My knowledge of first-aid pretty much extended to the application of a Band-Aid onto a wound. When I first stepped onto that cruise liner, the idea that I would have to deal with hypothermia was furthest from my mind. But now here I was with my cousin, huddled under a thermal blanket, feeling him trembling with cold and hearing his teeth chattering loudly in my ear. On the opposite side of the tiny lifeboat lay Nyu, unconscious but shivering, with her own blanket in a death grip. I had absolutely no idea how she was still alive: she had been wearing her bikini and sarong when she had been flung from the ship. The shock of the Atlantic cold should have killed her outright.

It was a miracle…it had to be. When I saw the two of them plummet as a fireball into the sea, I flat-out burst into tears. The height, the cold, the fact they were pretty much at ground zero…they were dead. Kouta…he had to be dead.

But no: there they were, surfacing with a pair of gasps, thrashing in the freezing water. I remember almost throwing myself overboard as soon as they had gotten close, reaching out to them and pulling them choking and gagging into the boat, ignoring the ice water that sloshed over my shoes.

'Warm,' I had realized. 'I need to get them warm.' Sharing body heat would only get Kouta so far, and I couldn't be sure I could approach Nyu without her waking up and...ending me. Sure, the lifeboat had a tiny heater, but in the cold night air I could hardly feel it myself, to say nothing of Kouta and Nyu.

I can't say exactly why I thought the dilapidated lighthouse in the distance would offer any comfort. Maybe it was just me, desperately trying to DO something, anything to feel like I still had a degree of control over this insanity. And so I had revved up the lifeboat's motor, gave it to Mayu and ordered her to take us to the dark structure in the distance.

"Shouldn't we stick near the other lifeboats?" Mayu shouted over the motor, staring out to sea. I stole a glance in the direction of the ship. The wounded vessel was almost halfway underwater by now, though I could make out scattered white and orange dots floating around it: lifeboats filled with those fortunate enough to have escaped. "The rescue helicopters are probably on their way by now!" She said, rubbing the back of her neck: I couldn't help but flinch at the five-fingered bruise that she wore there, almost identical to the one burned into my own. Nana had spent a good five minutes apologizing profusely for grabbing her so tightly, while Mayu herself had insisted she was fine.

I shook my head. "Those mercenaries are probably still out there, and Kouta and Nyu are on their last legs! We need to get them warmed up!"

"But we don't even know what's IN that lighthouse! We should stick with the other lifeboats and wait for rescue..."

"Mayu, goddamn it, do NOT argue with me!" I snapped. I wasn't exactly the apotheosis of patience under the best of circumstances, and the fact that I was still up at midnight, out in the middle of the freezing ocean with Kouta and 'Nyu' wasting away before my eyes…

Mayu seemed to get the hint, nodding earnestly before turning her attention to the lighthouse. Taking a second look at it, though…I'd never gotten the chance to see the Enoshima lighthouse off the coast up close, but I knew enough about it to get a slight feeling of foreboding from this particular structure. It resembled a city skyscraper more than anything, a black obelisk stretching towards the crescent moon. Rather different from the white, welcoming guiding lights I had come to picture when I thought of lighthouses.

But what it looked like mattered little…so long as it had shelter and warmth.

It seemed like ages before we actually got there, all of us jerking forward slightly as Mayu tried and failed to dock the boat evenly alongside a stone stairway lined with dilapidated, flickering electric lamps, hitting the steps with a thump and a splash. I scooted over to the back of the boat, cutting the motor as Mayu shook Nana lightly on the shoulder, causing her to look up from the heater.

I shot a glance over to Kouta. By some miracle, he was still conscious, almost looking like he had improved during the trip, though he still seemed a little disinclined to giving up his blanket. Carefully, I leaned over, shaking Nyu lightly on the shoulder.

"H-hey…" I stammered, ready to jerk my hand back at a moment's notice. "We're at a lighthouse…it may be warmer in…"

Her eyes snapped open.

I nearly fell out of the boat in my attempt to throw myself out of reach. Nana looked up from the furnace, leveling fearful eyes at Nyu…before suddenly relaxing.

My question of why Nana, who earlier had been screaming in my face about how much of a monster Nyu was, had suddenly had a change of heart when Nyu sat up, looking between us with wide, innocent eyes.

"N-n-nyu?" She squeaked through chattering teeth.

I felt every muscle in my body relax as the truth sank in: she was 'herself' again, right back to the sweet, innocent little airhead I knew would never try to kill me with her mind. Thank god for small favors...

"Oh, Nyu, you're alright…" I sighed, releasing Kouta long enough to gather the trembling girl up in my arms.

"N-nyu c-c-cold…"

The simple sentence snapped me back to reality. "Oh…o-of course! C'mon…up you go…"

Trying to get the two of them safely on their feet presented a few tense seconds. Kouta's legs seemed unwilling to support his weight, and the shifting center of gravity nearly sent us all into the water a couple of times. But finally I had them on solid land, one on each arm, as Mayu and Nana climbed out of the lifeboat behind us.

Together, we began the long ascent.

*Kouta*

It had been the first time I had ever really seen my life flash before my eyes. When Nyu had wrapped herself around me, bracing herself for some unseen danger, I had no idea how close we were about to come to death. Even now, as my brain tried to reboot itself through the cold and the shock, all the different ways we could have _died_ horribly back there were making their way into it.

We could have been incinerated by the blast, thrown against a metal wall instead of through a window and flattened like a pancake, a window that by all accounts should have slashed us to ribbons. I had no idea exactly how far we had fallen, but high enough and the water would have been like concrete, breaking every bone in our body. Throw in the threat of drowning and now hypothermia, and I had absolutely no official ruling on just HOW we survived.

Nyu. My neck cracked painfully as I looked over to her. Those…powers of hers likely had something to do with it. I had felt something wrap around me, embracing me in a protective cocoon before the world had turned upside down. But whatever she had done hadn't protected her completely, and she had been blasted unconscious, leaving me to drag her one-handed through the frigid water toward the lifeboat. I was exhausted, sore, and frozen to the bone, but we were alive.

Alive…all of us, our entire 'family' was really, truly, sincerely ALIVE.

The realization of that seemed to trigger some 'defog' option in my brain: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch all colliding with my consciousness with the force of a freight train. My knees gave out, and I slid off whatever had been supporting me. My face struck hard stone uninhibited, and all of a sudden I felt my nose getting very hot.

"Kouta! Kouta, stay with me! We're almost there!"

Yuka…Yuka had been helping me walk to wherever we were going. Nice of her...wait, were we walking? Jeez, I can't believe I just figured that out. I thought I had seen the boat sinking, and the surface that I had supported me felt more solid than the deck anyway…

Yuka was dragging me to my feet, and now that I had had more of a chance to get over the sensory overload, my brain was starting to sort out what I was experiencing. A stone stairway, lined by lanterns and leading to something…huge and black next to us, with a golden door on the side that approached us with every step…

"Y-yuka?" I croaked.

"We're almost there…stay with me…we're almost there."

And then we were through…Mayu had scurried forward, yanking at the door with obvious effort. Nana stepped forward, and Mayu found herself stumbling backwards as the doorway swung open with a screech of the hinges. Squinting did nothing to clear up what was beyond it: damn place was dark as the pit.

We were…going in there?

"Yuka?"

She paid me no heed, dragging the two of us through the door after Mayu and Nana. The darkness of whatever facility this was seemed to close around us like a vice as we entered completely.

"Shut the door."

Nana looked back, and I glanced over my shoulder to see (and hear) the door shriek closed, apparently of its own accord, cutting off the light from outside entirely. Now that we were inside entirely, my eyes were starting to adjust: nothing I could make out of our surroundings in particular, but I could see Yuka, Nyu supported on her other shoulder.

"I…I think I can stand, Yuka."

My cousin leveled her gaze at me, worry in her eyes. For a second, I thought she wasn't going to take the risk. But at length, she slowly eased my arm off her shoulder, letting go of my waist. I staggered for a second as my knees knocked and the world tilted, but I managed to get myself under balance.

"Okay, someone get the lights." I turned to face Yuka as she slowly eased herself away from Nyu, who stumbled before catching herself. My cousin was squinting around for the other girls. "There's gotta be some sort of switch around here."

"I don't know…I can't find anything…" Nana mused as I managed to make her out, sliding her hands across the wall.

But suddenly, we didn't need to. There was a series of clacking noises in the distance, before a final loud one heralded a searing, painfully bright light.

I was rubbing my eyes, trying to get used to the abrupt change in lighting, when Mayu screamed.

The terrified sounds seemed to blast what little disorientation I still felt clear out of my brain, and I was whirling around, following the girl's gaze to the center of the room.

"Mayu, wha-aah-AAAAH!"

Now it was my turn to yelp and jump back: it was only after the lights had turned on that I had realized he was in the room: a cruel, scowling mouth, beady, glaring eyes, a golden giant of a man bearing down on us all…

Wait a minute…

"M-mayu! MAYU!" I had to shout to make myself heard over her shrieks. "It's…it's just a statue."

Mayu stepped forward, taking deep breaths as she took a close look at the huge golden head and torso of a man protruding from the back wall, and then at the tattered red banner underneath. A flush of embarrassment stained her cheeks.

"Oh…er…oh."

Yuka gave us both strange looks before craning her neck up at the behemoth. "Geez, seriously…"

Now it was my turn to blush as I realized what she was referring to. "H-hey, it took me by surprise!"

"Ugh…creepy." Nana ventured closer. Nyu scuttled to her side, 'nyu-ing' her agreement. "Who is he?"

"Search me." I muttered, not taking my eyes off it. Even after realizing the thing wasn't alive it still gave me the chills, as if it was indeed going to jump off the wall and eat us…

"Andrew Ryan."

I looked down at Yuka, leaning over something on the railing. "You know about this guy?"

My cousin beckoned me over, pointing down at a plaque on the railing, tracing unfamiliar characters with her finger as she read them.

"'_In what country is there a place for people like me?-Andrew Ryan.'_" She gave me a sideways glance. "Stands to reason that's THIS guy."

I looked up at the faded banner over our heads, stepping back for a better look. Even after all the wear and tear on it, I could make out words in the same characters as the plaque. "And the banner? What does the banner say?"

Yuka squinted. "''No Kings, no Gods. Only Man'. Probably another one from Ryan. Coming from the man who puts a giant golden bust of himself in the middle of a light…house…"

The light bulb clicked in my head at about the same moment her voice trailed off.

"Kouta…this place is out in the middle of the ocean. Just to say to ships, 'hey, there's a rock here, don't bash into it', right? It's just a beacon to guide ships to safety, right? No one's gonna come here, right?"

"So why does this place look like the entrance to some kind of museum?" I finished.

Again, silence fell over the five of us.

"Hey! Hey, Kouta! Yuka! Down here!"

Wait…four of us? Mayu was gone: the little girl could be really quiet when she wanted to. Her little vanishing act would be the last thing we'd need in our predicament. At least she didn't sound scared or anything: she didn't seem like she was in trouble.

"Mayu? Where are you?" Yuka shouted.

"Down here! This way!"

I didn't even have time to shrug before Yuka took off, dashing around the railed-off statue and vanishing down a dark staircase. I ran after her, Nana and Nyu hot on my heels. Down two flights of stairs, and I found Yuka and Mayu. Mayu was gesturing me forward, pointing at a dark shape a few feet in front of us. It took my eyes a few seconds to get used to the dark, but as I squinted, I was able to make out a spherical, metal shape.

"Kouta…" Yuka whispered, stunned. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah. That's a _bathysphere_."

Nana looked up at me, confused at the unfamiliar word. "Bath spear?"

"Ba-thy-sphere." Yuka spelled slowly, stepping forward and leaning around the path to examine the sides of the massive vehicle. "I've read about these things…they're like, primitive submarines." She turned back to see an utterly lost look on Nana's face. "They're boats that can go under the water. Ugh, this thing is _really _old…" She leaned closer to a tiny marking on the hull. "It was built in the fifties."

"Looks in pretty good shape, though." I muttered. "I wonder if it still works."

The phrase seemed to trigger something in my cousin, and she spun around, getting right in my face in a few quick strides.

"It's not SUPPOSED to work, Kouta! It shouldn't even be here, and neither should that huge statue of Andrew Ryan or any of those plaques or banners touting his philosophy! This is a lighthouse, a run-down beacon for ships in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but there is something _very wrong with this place_!" Her eyes were shifting all around the room for some unseen danger. "We need to get out of here. We need to get back to th-"

A sudden noise choked her sentence off.

Even downstairs, we could all hear the hinges of the massive gilded doors shriek open. A few tense seconds of silence passed…and then heavy, measured, clanking footsteps on the metal floor.

I felt as if I had been dunked back in the ocean.

"Get in." Yuka whispered.

"Wha-?" I stammered.

"Into the bathysphere, right now, all of you!"

Before I had a chance to react, to point out that we could sneak around using the other stairway, I was being manhandled into the tight metal sphere alongside the others. I pressed myself against the wall, trying in vain to keep myself as far away from the massive porthole as I possibly could; all the while the footsteps continued to thud around upstairs.

"Alright, I know there's someone here!" That voice…!

"MISTER BANDO! Mister Bando, you're alive! We're down here!"

I spun my head around , watching in horror as Mayu stepped into plain view, leaning out the porthole with a huge smile on her face, SCREAMING his name at the top of her lungs. I dove forward, seizing the back of her collar and yanking her back.

"What are you _DOING_?! That guy tried to kill me and Nyu back on the boa-"

"Hey, is that you, brat? What the hell are you doing out here!"

The rapid thudding of his footsteps cut me off, and I stared in horror as the man rushed down the stairs, coming to a dead stop in front of us, staring in shock.

He was a wreck…cuts and bruises covered his face, and his vest and undershirt had been shredded by the bomb, revealing a pair of _mechanical_ arms underneath. He was shivering, soaked to the bone and dripping with ocean water…holy hell, did he SWIM here? He glanced around the bathysphere at each of us, stunned, before his gaze came to rest squarely on Nyu.

His face split into a sadistic grin, and he reached for his belt.

Childish as she may have been, Nyu remembered voices pretty well, particularly the voice of those who had tried to threaten her friend and kill her on a beach at night. And with a rather uncharacteristic display of deduction, she not only realized that even though he was no longer wearing his balaclava it was the same man, but that the lever in the center of the bathysphere would do something, and it was probably her only chance of escaping him. With a shout, she jumped forward, grabbing the lever in both hands and yanking it down with all her strength. Yuna's eyes bulged.

"NYU, NOOOO!"

_Clank-hissssssss…CLANK!_

The porthole slammed shut and immediately the bathysphere lurched downwards. I had a few seconds to see the man banging one of his arms against the other in frustration: apparently the salt water had done something to them and his fingers were refusing to close around his gun. Then a splash, a muffled rumbling, and we were staring at a stream of bubbles.

"NYU!"

The horned girl quailed as Yuka shot her a glare that could have cut through diamonds before turning back to the lever, putting all her weight behind it and trying to push it back into place. The lever seemed to have other ideas, having either jammed or locked into place, and it was refusing to budge no matter how much Nyu pushed. She finally gave up and turned back to us, tears in her eyes.

"Nyu's sorry!" She stammered.

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to smile through my nerves. "I-it's alright Nyu! The bathysphere's probably on autopilot: once it gets to wherever it's going, the lever will unlock and we'll pull it again and go home. Does that sound good?"

Of course, I had no clue exactly WHERE 'wherever it's going' was. All the time we had been talking and panicking, the bathysphere had continued to drop as the water pressure creaked around us: exterior lights had flicked on; illuminating a wall decorated with metal designs, small statues 'holding up' arches with inscriptions on them. I was able to recognize English numbers: 10…18…

But what number came next, we never found out: a large sheet of some kind flicked up and completely obscured our view. Then there was a click, a buzz and a whir, the screen lit up, showing a picture of the lighthouse against a setting sun.

"Hey…" Nana turned to Mayu. "Is this one of those 'movies' you told me about?"

"I think so…"

Nana gave a squeak of joy, sitting down on the red-covered bench and staring enamored at the motionless picture as music began to play from some hidden speaker: tinny and scratchy, like it was from an old record player. The picture shifted to show...it was kind of hard to make out, really. Looked like some guy holding out a finger to a pretty lady's cigarette…a GLOWING finger.

"_Fire at Your Fingertips: Incinerate!_" Yuka narrated. "_Plasmids by Ryan Industries_. Ryan, Ryan, RYAN. Who the heck IS he, anyway?"

"Forget _that,_ what's a Plas-?"

But the picture changed again, cutting my question short.

It was Ryan again. Ryan sitting in a chair, smiling at us and smoking a pipe, as a man, who I could only assume to be him, spoke with a deep, rich voice in a language I couldn't understand.

"I am Andrew Ryan." Yuka narrated next to my ear. "And I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"

The statement was compounded by a black and white picture of a man, a farmer by the look of it, slaving in the fields and wiping, well, the sweat from his forehead. "NO, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor!" And now Mayu and Nana jumped as the screen shifted to show a man fleeing in terror from the talons of a vicious bird of prey, swooping from a domed building in the background. "NO, says the man in the Vatican! It belongs to God!" And now the man was recoiling from a giant hand from the sky, before cowering away from the blade of a giant sickle. "NO, says the man in Moscow! It belongs to EVERYONE!"

And then Ryan was back, smiling at us and smoking in his chair. "I…rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the _impossible_."

Suddenly, the screen went blank, sliding down a second later to reveal what lay behind it. And what I saw, indeed, defied all logic.

"I chose…RAPTURE."

Yuka's hand had clenched around my fingers tight enough to hurt, though the pain was dulled by the weight of what lay in front of us. "K-kouta…it's…it's a…I don't…BELIEVE IT…"

It sprawled the entire length of the sea floor, as far as I could see. While I adored the forest and seas, the city has always been a kind of inspiration to me. I used to be a bit of an artist, you know? Bright lights, tall buildings, like a giant testament to mankind's progress. I mean, we went from cave dwellers to this? How can someone think of that and not be awe-struck by it?

Nana, Nyu and Mayu had mashed their faces against the window, jaws hanging open and their eyes drinking in every inch of it.

"Oh my god…" Yuka whispered, staring blankly as we drifted by a flickering neon sign. "A city…at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean…h-how long has THIS been down here?"

I felt my eyes drawn to the flicker of movement, and I managed to catch a school of fish drifting by the dimly-lit windows of another nearby building. "This…this has gotta be a dream." I mumbled dully, my brain stretching itself painfully, trying to wrap itself around the concept of what I was seeing.

This prospect wasn't aided by the sudden, lurching stop of the bathysphere, which sent me stumbling forward, reaching out and grabbing Yuka's shoulder in an attempt to keep myself upright. Ryan had abruptly stopped speaking; the only sounds we could hear now were the creaking of the water all around us.

"W-what's going on? Why did we stop?" Yuka whispered, a tremor in her voice.

"Everyone, stay calm…"

"ATTENTION, UNIDENTIFIED PERSONELL!"

It took a second to realize where the sudden, barking voice had come from. A small light near the roof of the bathysphere had appeared, faintly illuminating a small camera, the shining lens was focused, unwavering, on us all.

Yuka whirled around, glaring up at the camera and shielding Nana and Mayu with her arm. "Who is this? What's going on?!"

"YOU ARE ENGAGED IN UNAUTHORIZED USE OF A RAPTURE CITY BATHYSPHERE!" The voice barked, unheeding of my cousin's shouts. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR YOU _WILL_ BE FIRED UPON!"

My blood ran cold and my breath caught in my throat. "F-fired upon?! W-w-wait, we didn't know this was your bathysphere! Our ship sank and we…"

"SILENCE!" The voice boomed, cutting me off. The camera was whirring loudly, the lens shifting, zeroing in on the pink-haired girl curled up a corner of the room. Nyu shrank away from the machine's oppressive gaze, looking like she wanted nothing more than to melt into the wall.

"It…couldn't be…" The voice whispered hoarsely. "You couldn't possibly have…"

The camera whirred back to look at all of us. When the voice spoke again, it was no longer the booming, enraged bass that had echoed through the tiny chamber.

"My apologies. I did not realize you had someone of such value among you." The voice sounded warm, apologetic, amiable almost, and yet it chilled me more than the threat of getting torpedoed ever did.

"Such value…?" I demanded. "You mean Nyu?! What does she have to do with any of this?! Who the hell are you?!"

The bathysphere lurched again, and we were moving, quickly now. Zooming past the buildings with their dimly-lit windows and flickering neon signs, over and under covered bridges, through schools of fish that bumped loudly off the hull…

"Please," the voice said coolly. "Your questions will be answered in due time. You will be docking in the Welcome Center shortly. A representative will meet you there." I could practically see the man's shit-eating grin on the other end of the line as we approached a series of guiding rails, bringing us closer and closer to a building's entrance.

"Until then…welcome to Rapture."

* * *

My clothes were still wet when the porthole on the bathysphere opened, and the blast of cold air that rushed in seemed to be amplified, sending my teeth into yet another chattering spree. A glance around our surroundings, the 'Welcome Center' that the man had mentioned, no doubt, did little to help. The room was pitch black other than some flickering lights, barely illuminating a tarnished stone hallway that stretched towards a darkened window…this 'Welcome Center' didn't exactly bring feelings of 'welcome' with it. Yuka was a lot braver than I was, though, or at least she put on a good showing: she had stepped to the open porthole, glancing left to right before turning and gesturing to us.

"Well? Come on!"

Nana and Mayu seemed to have gotten their nerves together, taking a few tentative steps after my cousin, following her out of the bathysphere. Yuka turned back to me, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Come on, Kouta! You're not gonna just stay in that bathysphere, are you?"

That actually didn't sound like a bad prospect, really. Nonetheless, I reached over, giving the bathysphere lever a few tugs. Nothing: the handle was locked in place. Defeated, I scooted over to Nyu, shaking her on the shoulder.

"Come on, Nyu. We're getting out."

"Nyu scared…" She whispered. "This place…bad…" Preaching the choir…nonetheless, I put on my bravest smile.

"You'll be alright, Nyu. I'll protect you from whatever's out there. Now, come on." Yuka gave an annoyed huff, but my reassurances seemed to have done the trick. Nyu hesitated, and then reached up, squeezing my hand and getting to her feet.

"Hold hand…?" She asked, glancing nervously out the porthole.

"Yeah…I'll hold your hand."

And together, we stepped out of the bathysphere.

Yuka looked between us, looking as if she was trying to ignore some sour taste in her mouth. Nonetheless, she gave a satisfactory nod, beckoning the four of us to follow her down the dark hallway. I glanced around the center as we walked: from the outside, the city seemed to be in relatively good shape, only a few flickering neon signs indication of any wear and tear. The inside, on the other hand…broken lights, tattered remains of suitcases piled in a corner next to a darkened glass chamber, shredded couches…and the _smell_! Ugh, it REAKED in here, the smell of decaying…everything! It was like the city's guts were rotting inside it.

"This is wrong…" Mayu mused, looking nervously around the room, peering into every dark shadow. "That guy on the radio said he was gonna send someone down here to meet us, but this place is…dead. It's like no one's been here for years. Where is everybody?"

An echoing clang from off in the distance stopped my heart in my chest as I realized Mayu was absolutely right. The creepy voice on the radio, the moldering city, the threatening, oppressive blackness…this place was shaping up to be the set of some sort of late-night slasher movie.

"I don't know if we want to find out, Mayu…"

"Okay, _quiet_!" Yuka spun around, her expression hard. "We don't need that kind of talk right now, alright? In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly swimming in options! As it stands, walking into the creepy city is not a smart move, I know that! But as far as I can tell, it's the best chance we've got at getting out of this mess! Now, if you want to sit in that bathysphere until dry rot sets in, you are more th-"

A blinding orange flash, a deafening explosion, a scalding blast of heat…the five of us spun around, our jaws dropping in unison as a plume of crackling flames rose up from the other side of the room.

Right where…!

"What happened?!" Nana shrieked. "W-what was that!?"

"Oh god…!" Yuka gasped, her bravado completely gone, blasted away by the force of the explosion. "The bathysphere!"

"What did that?!" Mayu rushed to the railing, standing on tiptoe to get a clearer view of the inferno. "Was there a bomb in it, or…"

Even in the darkness, I could see her face pale suddenly and her eyes bulge in fear. "Oh god…" She whispered hoarsely. "Oh god, there's someone down there! There's someone down there, I CAN SEE HIM MOVING!"

I grabbed Nyu's hand as hard as I could, tugging her towards the stairs. "Run! RUN!"

The halls were a blur, a cacophony of footsteps echoing all around me as I dragged Nyu through them as fast as I could: vaulting over a fallen pillar, ducking under a jammed metal door, racing up another flight of stairs into the ruins of another grand entrance…

A door…a door at the other side of the hallway…open it, lock it, escape…!

But it wouldn't open.

My hand slammed hard against the metal slab as I came uncomfortably close to smashing into it. Something banged into my back: Nana and Mayu didn't expect me to stop so fast and they had crashed into me as one body. I barely felt it through my ever-growing fear, as I released Nyu's hand to knock fruitlessly on the door with both palms.

"COME ON!" I shrieked, whirling to see a panel on the side of the door. Practically landed on top of it in my fervor, wrestling with the lever. _Clickclick…clickclick…clickclick_.

"It's jammed!" I yelled, my voice cracking as I spun to face the others. "It won't open!"

"Kouta, what do we do?!" Yuka screamed.

"Nyu not die!" Nyu wailed, face buried in my chest. "Nyu not want to die!"

"QUIET!"

The scream…the barked order…it was so unlike Nana that I almost didn't realize it was her. The horned girl was pale and shaking, but she had clenched her tiny fists. With a flourish, she stepped in front of us, holding her arm out.

"Stay behind me. I won't let them hurt you."

I sensed a disturbance in the air…some sort of power flowing out of Nana's body, like an extension of her will that directed itself at the empty doorway. Mayu stared at Nana, who stood like a statue, glaring at the darkness.

"Nana, be careful."

The horned girl nodded as a heavy clacking of shoes against metal echoed up at us, getting closer and closer with each step. "Stay back!" Nana shouted, her voice echoing off the walls. "Don't come any closer!"

_Clack…clack…clack_…

The heavy, measured steps paid the threat no heed. If anything, they picked up in tempo, their source now moving towards us with more purpose than ever. Nana's fists clenched tighter, though her knees were starting to shake and sweat began to bead on her brow. "I-I'm warning you! Don't come any closer! I don't want to hurt you!"

Up the stairs…closer…closer…SOMEONE IN THE DOORWAY…!

Nana shrieked as a jagged-looking chunk of masonry from a nearby ruined pillar levitated itself into the air and then fired itself at our assailant's head. The figure reacted instantly, batting the rock out of the air as if it were a paper airplane.

Whatever color was left in Nana's face drained as the man stepped fully into the hallway, rubbing his forearm. "STAY BACK!" She shrieked, her voice cracking. "STAY AWAY FROM US! IF YOU DON'T LEAVE, I'LL…I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I'LL…I-I'LL…"

As soon as the man stepped into the light, Nana babbled to a stop. The energy, the power that she had extended around us protectively seemed to flicker and die as she stared, wide-eyed and disbelieving, at our assailant.

Plain-looking guy…black hair, glasses, tie, a sharp blue suit…though the cuff had been torn by the rock Nana had pitched at him. Straightening his glasses, the man looked us over with a blank expression on his face.

Nana stumbled forward, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again, like she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. "P…p…a…pa…pa…" She stammered, barely audible over the ambient noises of the city around us.

The man's eyes flicked over to her, looking her up and down. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up in a thin, mirthless smile. "Nana."

"…PAPAAAAAA!"

_Wait…HUH…?!_

Nana hurtled forward, screaming at the top of her lungs and running full tilt towards the man, practically tackling him. "Papa! PAPA! It's you really you! You're alive…! You're…really, really ALIVE!"

The man stared blankly at the pink-haired girl sobbing into his suit for a few seconds, but then he kneeled down, wrapping his arms her. "I'm glad you're safe…Nana…when I saw the ship go down, I thought…"

That sentence…that one sentence and my blood ran cold. The hesitation, the affect, the fact he had BLOWN UP our only means of escape…it didn't take a brain surgeon to realize there was something VERY wrong with this guy…

"You're…Nana's father?" Yuka appeared to have recognized the danger too, meeting this strange man's unnatural calm with her own, though I could see her entire body tensed like an overwound spring, ready to react as soon as the man did.

"That's right…" The man looked at her…_through_ her, almost. The odd situation we were all in seemed totally lost on him. Nana, on the other hand, looked to be on Cloud Nine, snuggled up close to her 'Papa' with a look of utter bliss on her face. "I am Kurama. And you have something that belongs to me." Kurama got to his feet, placing a hand on Nana's head and narrowing his eyes. "I'll make it simple: I want Lucy. If she surrenders without a struggle, the rest of you will not be harmed."

'Lucy'? Who the hell was Lu…?

"Lu…cy? No…" Nyu piped up from behind me, voice filled with confusion. I followed Kurama's gaze to the girl, who was shaking her head as she stepped forward, pointing a finger at her chest. "Nyu."

Kurama blinked. "Huh?"

"My name Nyu." She said simply, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. "Nyu not _Lucy._ Nyu is Nyu."

Well, give her credit: she'd taken Kurama completely off-guard. He stood there, staring at her and looking absolutely dumbfounded. Then he shook himself, focusing on me now.

"Look, whatever she wants to call herself, it doesn't matter at this point. The bottom line is that she's dangerous. VERY dangerous. I assume at this point you've all seen what an angry diclonius is capable of. Their entire species is a threat to the human race. Our organization is dedicated to the express purpose of neutralizing this threat." He raised his hand to his face and adjusted his glasses, causing the little light in the room to glint ominously off the lenses. "I shall make this simple: give Lucy and Nana to us, and we will send the three of you safely back to the surface. I may even be able to negotiate monetary compensation if you agree to keep quiet about all this."

I placed a hand on Nyu's shoulder, gently pulling her back. "And if we refuse?" Kurama smiled, if a single quiver at the corners of his mouth could be called a smile.

"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

Nyu grabbed my hand, squeezing hard enough to hurt. She was shaking her head, a look of utter horror on her face. "No…" She whispered. "Not again…"

At once, my fear seemed to leave me, to be replaced by the rising heat of anger.

_No…not again…I won't make THAT mistake again…_

"Nana, RUN!"

My legs moved on their own, Nyu letting out a cry of shock and terror as I yanked free from her grip. I was running, hurtling toward Kurama as fast as I could. He wasn't reaching for anything…I had taken him by surprise…!

_WHOOSH!_

It was like a solid wall of air, striking me head on with the force of Yuka's best punch. I was thrown backwards through the air, tumbling like a ragdoll before slamming hard into the ground. I heard the others' cries of shock as Yuka helped me struggle to my feet, trying to get my lungs working again. "Kouta!"

"I'm fine…" I managed to gasp. "But what hit me?"

"P-papa?" Nana's voice seemed to fade in and out after the shock of the blow. Kurama was holding his hand toward me, palm outstretched. He chuckled quietly. Nana started to cringe a bit. "Papa…your grip…my head…!"

"Shh…It'll be alright…these people won't hurt you anymore…" The man's face was no longer a flat, emotionless mask. Quite the contrary: Kurama looked rather deranged now. "We'll be with Mommy soon…not much longer…_Mariko_…"

There was a flash of orange light, a roaring, whooshing noise, Nana was shrieking in shock and pain...she was twisting away from the death grip he had had on her head, her hands batting frantically at her hair, which was smoking slightly. A closer look at Kurama revealed exactly why this was.

"What the FUCK?!" Yuka screamed.

_Fire_. All at once Kurama's hands had become engulfed in crackling flames. Raw-looking blisters were forming on his skin even as I watched, filling the air with the smell of cooking flesh. It didn't look as if Kurama particularly cared about the fact his hands were burning off though, as he brought them up to look at them. He smiled wickedly as the flames leaped higher, glinting off his glasses. Then he brought his arm back, winding up as if to throw a fastball…

"Look out!"

BOOM!

We almost didn't make it. I could feel the heat of the fireball explode behind me as the four of us scattered. So hot…it felt as if my skin was cracking, even so far away from it…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A second blast of heat…again and again…Kurama was slinging flames with reckless abandon. The explosions deafened me, the flashes seared my eyes even though I had squeezed them shut. My entire body tightened up so much it hurt, expecting a roaring fireball to crash into it at any second.

"Papa! Papa, stop it! Leave them alone!"

Nana had hurled herself forward, launching herself at Kurama with all her strength. With a grunt, he swung his arm in a grand flourish. With a loud 'whoosh', the air itself seemed to ripple and Nana was knocked out of the air, smashing into a pillar, then sliding down into a puddle of water with a splash. She hit the ground hard, shuddered, and then lay still.

"Nana!"

Kurama whirled around, extending his hand. Mayu staggered backwards; she had almost run right into the wall of flames Kurama had conjured with a flick of his wrist. The man looked around at all of us, cowering in our respective corners of the room.

"Are you quite satisfied?" Kurama barked, glaring at each of us in turn, daring us to move. "Are you ready to hand Lucy to me? Or perhaps…" I stiffened as he leveled his eyes at me, an evil gleam entering them. "You're still not convinced?" I drew back as Kurama leveled his hand, stretching his fingers towards Nana. The flames licking his flesh seemed to flicker and die, the blisters vanishing without a trace. Suddenly a new smell mingled with the odor of burning flesh: a metallic scent, like burning air. His hand had lit up again, glowing bright neon blue as sparks danced around his fingers.

"Maybe I should PROVE just how lethal a Plasmid can…"

_Whiiiiir…click-clang!_

The rest of Kurama's sentence choked off as the scraping of metal echoed through the room. I dared to tear my eyes away from the lunatic to follow everyone else's gaze.

_The door…the door was…_

Nana struck like a viper. In an instant, a heavy fire extinguisher had torn itself loose from the wall, tumbling end over end through the air until it collided with Kurama's skull, knocking him off his feet. Nana herself followed, launching herself high into the air and over the wall of flames. A second later, she emerged, flying back over the inferno with Mayu in her arms.

"Run! Run like hell!" Yuka shrieked. Already she was sprinting, hurling herself across the room through the open doorway. Nyu was scrambling after her, shrieking in terror at the top of her lungs. I turned back for a split-second, hesitated to make sure that Nana and Mayu were following us, and that was all Kurama needed.

There was a crackling, thundering 'boom' and a flash of blue light. I couldn't move…couldn't breathe…my legs tangled up beneath me, and I collapsed face-first to the ground.

"Kouta-!"

Yuka's voice was drowned out by a loud screech of metal, and the two of them vanished from sight as the door slid down again.

"NO!"

Kurama let out a choked scream as he took a few tottering steps toward the door, hand outstretched pathetically. Then the truth of what had happened sunk in, and he rounded on us, eyes blazing as furiously as the fire in his hand. Nana immediately brought her power to bear, and the fireball exploded harmlessly in midair a couple of meters away from her. A second, a third, a fourth fireball: Kurama was hurling them one after another, backing Nana into a wall, and with every impact, the horned girl flinched slightly. Kurama raised his hand high, the flames glowing brightly for a few seconds…and then flickering out completely.

Kurama gave his singed flesh a confused split-second look, and then grunted, reaching behind him and pulling what looked like a syringe loose, filled with something that glowed bright blue. He raised it above his arm and then jammed it into his vein, pushing the plunger down and groaning with pain as the flames flickered back to life again…

"Kouta, please forgive me!"

I tore my eyes away from the gristly sight as I heard Nana shout my name. She had tightened her grip on Mayu and squeezed her eyes shut. "Stay safe!" She shouted. "Mayu…HANG ON TIGHT!"

The ground exploded beneath her. Mayu let out a shriek of terror as the two of them dropped clean through the floor, her screams mingling with a series of crashes that echoed up from the hole that Nana had drilled.

"Nana! Mayu!"

I regretted it as soon as I shouted their names. Kurama immediately whirled around, swinging his arm. There was that 'whoosh' noise again, the air rippled, and I was flying through the air. I smashed hard against the wall, started to topple forward, but then Kurama was right in front of me, hand shooting forward and slamming me hard against the wall again. A hammer blow across my face…I sprawled to the ground, the copper taste of blood filling my mouth. Hands like vices, clenching around my collar, pulling me upright again as Kurama howled incoherently.

"Kurama! KURAMA!"

The booming voice over a hidden loudspeaker seemed to come from behind a wall of gelatin. It was clear enough for Kurama to hear, at least, as he released one of his hands to stare into a dark corner of the room. I squinted, managing to keep everything from swaying long enough to spy a bright red light.

"Enough of this nonsense!" The voice came again. "You have a mission, Kurama! If you hurry, you can still catch Lucy!"

"And what of this one?" Kurama asked. The animal ferocity seemed to have abandoned him entirely: in an instant he was as calm and collected as he had been when he had first walked into the room.

"He is no threat. The Splicers will take care of him."

The fingers released my collar and my legs gave out from under me, my head hitting the wall painfully as I slid down it. Kurama stared down at me for a second; there was an expression that I could have sworn was pity on his face. Then there was a bright flash of red light, and when it cleared, he was gone.

I didn't even try to get up. The world was swaying like that god-damned cruise ship, my entire body throbbing with pain. I rolled my tongue around in my mouth, centering as much as the blood as I could before turning my head and spitting it out; I felt something solid come with it, clacking loudly against the ground. I leaned back against the cold stone, sucking down breaths of air, as Rapture hissed, clanked and groaned all around me.


End file.
